Jeremy Hunt attacks Labour for A&E crisis

Andy Burnham summoned Jeremy Hunt to the Commons this afternoon for a shouty hour about who loves the NHS more. The Health Secretary’s answer to Labour’s urgent question on the government’s plans for changes to the GP contract and the crisis in Accident and Emergency departments was largely a direct attack on decisions the opposition took when it was in government.

He decried Labour’s ‘disastrous changes to the GP contract’ which had led to a significant rise in the number of patients visiting A&E, and ‘the disastrous failure of Labour’s IT contract’. He also told Burnham that his government had failed to address the disconnect between social care and the health service. Later, he said:

‘I’m not blaming any doctors, I am blaming the party opposite for the disastrous decisions that they made when in government.’

Hunt has been positioning himself as the ‘patients’ champion’ for months now.