THE NUMBER of patients waiting more than 12 hours in A&E has soared ahead of winter, damning new statistics showed today.

In October, some 49,592 had to wait half a day for admission, up from 38,000 the month before and the third-highest figure since comparable records began.

The number of patients waiting at least four hours at hospital accident and emergency departments also rose to 148,789, up by 18,000 on the month before. 

Health Secretary Wes Streeting trumpeted Labour’s achievement of a fall in the number of people waiting for routine hospital treatment in England by 70,000 last month, writing on X: “Since we ended the strikes, we have been ramping up delivery of an extra 40,000 extra appointments every week.”

But Johnbosco Nwogbo of campaign group We Own It said: “Staff are working harder than ever, but they have been undermined by years of underinvestment and crippling PFI [private finance initiative] debts.

“These figures should be a wake-up call to Wes Streeting. 

“Only sustained investment, scrapping PFI and ending outsourcing will give our NHS a fighting chance”

The new figures revealed that there had been a record number of ambulance call outs — 37 per cent more than before the Covid-19 pandemic. 

Isabel Lawicka of NHS Providers said: “Already it feels like winter, regularly the busiest and toughest time of year, in many parts of the NHS.”

Keep Our NHS Public co-chairman Dr John Puntis said: "The damage from 14 years of continuous neglect is clear for all to see and should ring alarm bells for the government, especially when the NHS is about to enter its most challenging period. 

“Significant additional funding and, moreover, strategic planning well in advance of winter, is the only way to avoid what will no doubt be more distressing scenes witnessed at hospitals up and down the country yet again this year."

Just one in 12 workers say the NHS is better prepared going into this winter than last year, according to a survey by the GMB union, which also found that two-thirds believe patient care had got worse during the past 12 months. 

GMB national secretary Rachel Harrison said: “Real-terms pay cuts, underfunding, understaffing — it's no wonder the NHS is on its knees. 

“Labour appears to grasp the scale of the problem and what it will take to get the health service off life support, but there’s a long way to go and in the meantime our GMB members bear the brunt of the crisis.”