Rishi Sunak has been dealt a major blow after NHS waiting lists hit another record high.
The prime minister made bringing them down one of the five pledges he made to voters at the start of the year.
“NHS waiting lists will fall and people will get the care they need more quickly,” the PM said.
But official figures published by NHS England today revealed that 7.22 million people were waiting to start routine hospital treatment at the end of February, up from 7.21 million in January and the highest total since records began.
Ambulance response times for all types of emergencies have also got longer, while around one in 10 people arriving at major A&E departments are having to wait more than 12 hours before being admitted, transferred or discharged.
Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting said: “After 13 years of Conservative failure to train the staff the NHS needs, patients can no longer be sure the NHS will be there for them in an emergency. These appalling waiting times mean people are just praying they don’t fall ill or have an accident.
“24 hours in A&E isn’t just a TV programme, it is now the reality for far too many patients. We cannot go on like this.”
Streeting said Labour would double medical school places and train 10,000 more nurses every year to bring down waiting lists.
“24 hours in A&E isn’t just a TV programme, it is now the reality for far too many patients”
Lib Dem health spokesperson Daisy Cooper said: “Rishi Sunak’s NHS pledge is already turning out to be yet another broken Conservative promise.
“The Conservatives are letting patients and their loved ones down badly, leaving far too many people waiting in pain for the treatment they need.
“They have let the NHS crisis spiral out of control, failing to deliver the new hospitals they promised and making people wait months or even years for treatment.
“We need an urgent rescue plan for the NHS. If patients could see their GP when they need to or get the care they need at home, it would free up hospital resources to treat people far more quickly.”
As well as promising to cut waiting lists, Sunak also vowed to halve inflation, grow the economy, bring down the national debt and stop small boats carrying asylum seekers across the Channel from France.
However, the boats are still continuing to arrive in Dover, while it was confirmed today that GDP flatlined in February.