Jonathan Ashworth MP, Labour’s
Shadow Health Secretary, commenting
on the latest winter pressures data from NHS England, said:
“The NHS has been stretched to its limits this
winter, with wards
closed, operations cancelled and treatments delayed. Over 3 million people have had to go to A&E
since the start of December and A&E diverts are 86 per cent up on last
winter.
“But this week brought
further evidence of an NHS recruitment crisis – with 2.7 million breaches of
the Government’s agency cap in nine months, applications for nursing degrees
driven down 23 per cent and news today that in 2016 only half of junior doctors
progressed to specialty training. It will be patients who suffer further as a
consequence.
“Theresa May and her ministers simply cannot keep burying their hands in the
sand. The Prime Minister’s utter disregard is letting patients and their
families down.
“The Government is failing
to protect our NHS for the future. Urgent action is required and Labour is
calling for a sustainable funding package for health and social care to be
brought forward in the March Budget, so that the NHS and its patients never have
to go through a winter like this again.”
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