NHS in England 'performing at worst ever level on several targets'

  • Video report by ITV News Correspondent Sally Lockwood.

The NHS in England is performing at its worst ever level against a raft of targets, including A&E, cancer and people forced to wait on trolleys.

The number of people waiting more than two months to start cancer treatment after an urgent referral was 25,157 in 2016 - the highest on record and up on the 23,760 recorded in 2015 and 13,191 in 2010.

Meanwhile, figures for December reveal just 86.2% of A&E patients were seen within four hours - the worst figure on record. It compares to 91.0% in December 2015, while the target is 95%.

Delayed transfers of care - so-called bed-blocking - is also the highest on record, while patients spending more than 12 hours to be admitted to a bed were at their highest ever levels in 2016.

Ambulance response times across the board also continue to be missed.

However in the latest snapshot on the state of the health service in England, the figures reveal the increasing pressures put on A&E departments, with admissions close to two million in December.

As many as 1,944,000 sought emergency treatment in the last month of 2016, up 4.1% on 2015.

Prof Keith Willett, NHS England's director for acute care, said the results were "unacceptable" - but "unsurprising".

Meanwhile, Labour said the government had "lost control" of the NHS this winter.

Shadow Health Secretary Jon Ashworth said: “Patients are paying the price as target after target is missed and standards of care deteriorate.

"Thousands more people are waiting for treatment, people are stuck in hospitals even when they're well enough to go home, and key standards on cancer care and ambulance response times are being missed.

“These are some of the worst figures we have seen.

"Urgent action is required and Labour is calling for a sustainable funding package for health and social care to be brought forward in the March Budget, so that the NHS and its patients never have to go through a winter like this again.”