Conservatives ‘staggeringly out of touch’ on NHS, says Labour
Some 4.42 million patients – the highest ever number – are on the waiting list for treatment.
Labour has accused the Tories of being “staggeringly out of touch” after Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the NHS was in many ways performing better than ever.
New NHS figures show the health service is performing at its worst ever level against key targets on A&E, cancer care and the wait for operations.
Some 4.42 million patients – the highest ever number – are on the waiting list for treatment, while one in six patients waits too long in A&E and there are longer waits for cancer care and operations such as hip replacements.
Health charities and think tanks have described the NHS as in crisis, with emergency care doctors saying the service is “imploding”.
Mr Hancock pointed to the rising number of patients requiring treatment and said the number of operations done had actually risen by 7% over the last 12 months.
“In many ways, the NHS is performing better than it ever has. The challenge is that demand is increasing as well,” he told BBC Radio 4’s The World At One programme.
“The performance of the system is incredible. The people who are working in the NHS are doing a remarkable job.
“We are putting record amounts of funding in over the next four years. We have got record numbers of doctors and nurses, with more to come.”
