Andy Burnham MP, Labour’s Shadow Health Secretary, responding to the Government’s announcement on hospitals in special measures, said:

“The uncomfortable truth for this Government is that these hospitals deteriorated following David Cameron’s disastrous reorganisation of the NHS. It was essential that steps were taken to stabilise them but it is extremely worrying that, a full year on, a number are only showing limited signs of improvement. After the election, thousands of nurses were laid off and nurse shortages were a major cause of the problems at these hospitals.

“The vast majority of NHS staff say that David Cameron’s reorganisation has harmed patient care. Most nurses say their ward is dangerously understaffed, and more nurses say that safety has got worse over the last year, not better. By refusing to listen to patients and staff and turning the NHS upside down in a reorganisation nobody wanted, this Government is sadly making care problems more likely, not less.

“In the last year, the NHS as a whole has gone downhill. Hospitals across the country are under unprecedented pressure with waiting lists at a six-year high and the NHS missing its cancer treatment target for the first time. Alongside action on these hospitals, the Government urgently needs a bigger plan to get the whole of the NHS back on track.”

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