Figures from the NHS reveal that 16,513 people had to wait more than four hours for emergency care at A&Es in Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust in July.

Just 61% of patients admitted to A&E locally were seen within 4 hours – the NHS says that 95% of patients should be admitted, transferred, or discharged in that time.

Accident and emergency departments across the country are facing huge pressures. In July, 30,000 people were left to wait more than 12 hours in A&E nationally. As the then Culture Secretary, Nadine Dorries, admitted, a decade of Conservative mismanagement left the health service “wanting and inadequate” when the pandemic struck.

There are now also 6.73 million people on the NHS waiting list in England as of June 2022. This is the highest ever recorded. At the outbreak of the Covid pandemic, following a decade of Tory mismanagement there were 4.4 million people on the NHS waiting list in England, then a record high. Nationally, the standard of 92% of people seen within 18 weeks of a referral has not been met since 2016. Now, 1 in every 9 people in England are on the NHS waiting list.

The NHS went into the latest wave of Covid infections with the longest waiting list ever, understaffed and overstretched.

Commenting, Jeff Smith MP said: 

“Patients in need of emergency medical attention are forced to wait far too long to be seen, left for hours often in serious pain.

“I’m very worried that these delays are putting people off going to A&E who need medical attention. Unacceptable waits will mean that seriously ill constituents could fall through the cracks.

“The Conservative Government’s response to the crisis in A&E is to scrap the zero tolerance for 12 hour waits. At the same time as they are putting up taxes on working people, they are lowering standards for patients. We’re paying more but waiting longer.

“Our NHS is crying out for a change in government to give us the fresh start we need.

Wes Streeting MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, said:

“Liz Truss is living in a fantasy world where the NHS isn’t worth mentioning. The truth is the health service is facing the biggest crisis in its history, with one in every eight people waiting for care. The Conservative leadership candidates have no plans to even begin to fix this.

“Among those 6.7 million on waiting lists, there could be a huge number of undiagnosed conditions like cancer. Record waiting times have a cost in lives.

“More patients than ever before are left waiting an entire day to be seen for emergency conditions. 24 hours in A&E was just a TV programme, now it’s the reality under the Conservatives.

“The next Labour government will get patients treated on time by providing the NHS with the staff, equipment and modern technology it needs.”