Labour responds to new report which shows that over 1,000 patients faced a wait of at least 12-hours in A&E every day in 2021

Wes Streeting MP, Labour’s Shadow Health and Social Care Secretary, responding to the new Royal College of Emergency Medicine report, which shows that over 1,000 patients faced a wait of at least 12-hours in A&E every day in 2021, said:

“As the Culture Secretary admitted, a decade of Conservative mismanagement left the NHS ‘wanting and inadequate’ when Covid hit and now patients are paying the price.

“The Conservatives’ response to the crisis in A&E is to scrap the zero tolerance for waits of more than 12 hours. 24 hours in A&E isn’t just a tv programme, it’s the Government’s policy.

“Labour will provide our NHS with staff, equipment and modern technology needed to get patients treated on time.”

Ends

Notes to editors

1. Keir Starmer, Leader of the Labour Party, raised the draft NHS contract at Prime Minister’s Questions last week, including the proposal to scrap the zero-tolerance approach to waits of more than 12-hours in A&E.

https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/26-nhs-standard-contract-comparison-fl-particualrs-2122-v-2223.pdf

1. The Culture Secretary, Nadine Dorries, accused former Health Secretary of leaving Britain’s health service “wanting and inadequate” when Covid struck.

https://twitter.com/NadineDorries/status/1533763409627566080