The Conservatives have been accused of sparking an A&E crisis by the Labour parliamentary candidate for Lichfield and Burntwood.
Chris Worsey said that more than 30,000 patients each week wait too long in hospital emergency departments across the UK.
And he added that Labour’s ‘NHS Rescue Plan’ – which plans to fund a boost for the health service via mansion tax into the NHS this year – will make an instant impact if the party get into government.
“Under David Cameron, A&Es across England are operating at their very limits and too many have clearly gone beyond them,” he said. “The Conservative Party caused this A&E crisis by making it harder to get a GP appointment, cutting care budgets to the bone and wasting £3billion on a damaging reorganisation.
“If David Cameron gets back in, extreme Tory spending cuts mean they can’t protect the NHS and the crisis in A&E will get even worse.
“Labour is the only Party facing up to it, with a fully-funded Rescue Plan. We will ease pressure on over-stretched A&Es by recruiting 20,000 more nurses and giving people a guaranteed GP appointment within 48 hours.”
Mr Worsey added that local figures since David Cameron became Prime Minister saw 19,704 people wait longer than four-hours in A&E at Burton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust.
He said: “There are also now 5,697 more people on NHS waiting lists in Burton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust compared to May 2010.”
The candidates standing in the Lichfield constituency are:
- Andy Bennetts – Class War
- Michael Fabricant – Conservatives
- Robert Pass – Green Party
- John Rackham – UKIP
- Paul Ray – Lib Dem
- Chris Worsey – Labour
