Boris Johnson on defensive as he admits 'we must do better with health service'

Boris Johnson has admitted “we have got to do better” on the NHS after the worst A&E figures on record.

The Prime Minister said the Government needs to do more after it was revealed just 83.6 per cent of patients arriving at A&E were treated or admitted within four hours, and more than 80,000 people needing a hospital bed were left stuck on trolleys, according NHS England figures.

On the BBC Breakfast programme, he was shown pictures of an 88-year-old woman who spent hours in an A&E corridor waiting for a bed.

He said he sympathised and added: “We have got to do better, I don’t deny that. That doesn’t mean that I am not incredibly proud of what the NHS is achieving.

"We have amazing staff and amazing doctors and, yes, we need to be investing more in them. That is exactly what we are doing.”

The woman’s son-in-law Peter Tuck told the Prime Minister there were “trolleys in the corridors, trolleys in the doorways”.

Labour yesterday accused Health Secretary Matt Hancock of being “staggeringly out of touch” after he claimed the NHS was performing “better than it ever has”, and Mr Johnson was asked by a caller on Radio 5 if he felt any shame or responsibility for the state of the NHS.

He said: “Of course I feel a massive sense of responsibility, I take responsibility for everything the Government does, that’s my job.”

He added that he was “acutely conscious” the NHS needs more funding. The Prime Minister said the last time he used NHS services was last year when he stood on glass at a barbecue.

He went to hospital in Hillingdon — where staff told him more investment was needed — and explained:“Foolishly I was making a barbecue and there was a bit of broken glass on the ground for some reason or another.

"I was jumping up and down — I think there was music playing — and a piece of glass went straight into the bottom of my foot and into my sole, my heel. It was absolute agony... Hillingdon were incredible.”

Asked if he had done enough to support victims of floods in northern England he said he had twice visited affected areas and support for affected homes and full council tax relief for flood-hit businesses was planned, although “you can never do enough for somebody who has suffered a disaster like flooding”.

The NHS figures, the last monthly health data before the election, show a continuing decline against key targets, as experts warn the health service is facing one of its “bleakest” ever winters.

Mr Johnson defended his method of making a cup of tea during his BBC interview, after a video showed him putting milk on top of a teabag and keeping the bag in. He said: “What’s wrong with that... it’s delicious.”

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