Keir Starmer has told Rishi Sunak to apologise for the “lethal chaos” in the NHS, as thousands of nurses took renewed strike action.
During angry exchanges at PMQs on Wednesday, the Labour leader and prime minister clashed over ambulance waiting times.
Labour said 37,000 people with “emergency” conditions, such as suspected strokes or heart attacks, had to wait more than 3 hours and 40 minutes for an ambulance in December.
“Stop blaming others, take some responsibility and just admit under his watch the NHS is in crisis,” Starmer told the prime minister.
“If he won’t answer any questions, will he at least apologise for the lethal chaos under his watch?”
But Sunak said Starmer should back his government’s new anti-strike laws which could see nurses get sacked if they take strike action to demand better pay and conditions.
“If he cares about ensuring that patients get access to life-saving emergency care when they need it, why won’t he support our minimum safety legislation?” Sunak said.
“We know why, the reason that he is not putting patients first when it comes to ambulance waiting times is because he is simply in the pockets of his union paymasters.”
Starmer used his questions during the session to highlight how long people have to wait for an ambulance.
He said government guidance said an ambulance should arrive in 18 minutes.
But the Labour leader said a heart attack victim who called an ambulance in Peterborough at 2.03pm it wouldn’t arrive until 2:10pm.
“That’s why someone who fears a heart attack, waiting more than two and a half hours for an ambulance. Not the worst-case scenario, just the average wait,” he said.
Nursing staff from more than 55 NHS trusts in England are taking part in industrial action on Wednesday and Thursday following two days of action in December.
The Royal College of Nursing (RCN) has announced that two further, bigger strikes will be held next month, while the GMB union is expected to announce further ambulance worker strike dates on Wednesday afternoon.
Pat Cullen, general secretary of the RCN, said nurses felt “totally heartbroken” going on strike, but felt they had no choice.