A&E Patients On Trolleys For Four Hours

The number of patients waiting at least four hours for treatment in major A&E units has reached a 10-year high, according to new annual figures.

Just over 925,000 patients waited on trolleys for more than four hours between April 2013 and March 2014, according to statistics from NHS England.

Labour said it was the "worst year in a decade in A&E".

The Government insisted performance targets are being met, despite almost four million more people going to A&E than 10 years ago.

The official data shows that, overall, emergency and urgent care units met the target for treating 95% of patients within four hours.

But hospitals dealing with major emergencies struggled, with just 93.5% of patients seen on time.

In 2004-05, 95% of patients were seen within four hours.

Andrew Gwynne, Shadow Health Minister, accused the Government of "taking the NHS backwards".

He said: "David Cameron promised he'd protect the NHS, but he wasted billions on an unnecessary re-organisation, inflicted deep cuts on social care and made it harder to see a GP - all the ingredients for the current pressures in A&E."

The figures show the number of people seeking emergency treatment has risen by 22% since 2004-05. Many hospitals have struggled to keep pace with demand.

A spokesman for the Department of Health said: "Despite almost four million more people going to A&E this year than in 2004/05, the NHS has met the performance standard for the week, for the quarter and for the year, meaning across the country more than 95% of patients are spending less than four hours in A&E.

"We took early action this year to help the NHS cope with winter, investing £400m to help with short term pressures.

"Longer term, we are bringing back the link between GPs and elderly patients and investing £3.8bn in joining up health and social care."