Matt Hancock has been accused of planning to obscure the crisis in A&E departments after hinting the four-hour waiting target will be axed.

The long-standing benchmark designed to avoid long waits – which the NHS has not achieved since 2015 – is no longer “clinically appropriate”, the health secretary suggested.

But Labour warned immediately that scrapping the target would not “magic away the problems in our overcrowded hospitals, with patients left on trolleys in corridors for hours and hours”.

“Any review of targets must be transparent and based on watertight clinical evidence, otherwise patients will think Matt Hancock is trying to move the goalposts to avoid scrutiny of the government’s record,” said Jonathan Ashworth, the shadow health secretary.

The target, requiring 95 per cent of patients attending casualty departments to be admitted, transferred or discharged within four hours, has become a major embarrassment for ministers.

In December, it was met for only 68.6 per cent of arrivals, the lowest figure for any month since the target was created in 2004 – and the first time performance has slipped below 70 per cent.

Asked if the target would survive, Mr Hancock said: “We will be judged by the right targets. Targets have to be clinically appropriate.

“The four-hour target in A&E – which is often taken as the top way of measuring what’s going on in hospitals – the problem with that target is that increasingly people are treated on the day and are able to go home.

“It’s much better for the patient and also better for the NHS and yet the way that’s counted in the target doesn’t work.

NHS at 70: Pride and worry as free health service celebrates birthday Show all 18 1 /18 NHS at 70: Pride and worry as free health service celebrates birthday NHS at 70: Pride and worry as free health service celebrates birthday Nurses test the hearing of a newborn child Reuters/Hannah McKay NHS at 70: Pride and worry as free health service celebrates birthday The waiting room is busy in Milton Keynes University Hospital Reuters NHS at 70: Pride and worry as free health service celebrates birthday On Ward 24, two nurses work at the nurses station Reuters/Hannah McKay NHS at 70: Pride and worry as free health service celebrates birthday In A&E, a porter rushes a patient through the corridor Reuters/Hannah McKay NHS at 70: Pride and worry as free health service celebrates birthday A surgical team prepares a patient for their operation Reuters/Hannah McKay NHS at 70: Pride and worry as free health service celebrates birthday In the physiotherapy department, patients are treated in the hydrotherapy pool Reuters/Hannah McKay NHS at 70: Pride and worry as free health service celebrates birthday On Ward 8, an inpatient awaits visitors Reuters/Hannah McKay NHS at 70: Pride and worry as free health service celebrates birthday In the physiotherapy department, amputees take a class Reuters/Hannah McKay NHS at 70: Pride and worry as free health service celebrates birthday A junior doctor is at work in the staff room Reuters/Hannah McKay NHS at 70: Pride and worry as free health service celebrates birthday A surgical team prepares a patient for their operation Reuters NHS at 70: Pride and worry as free health service celebrates birthday An inpatient has her hair washed by the staff hairdressers Reuters/Hannah McKay NHS at 70: Pride and worry as free health service celebrates birthday In the audiology department, a mother watches on as her son is given a hearing test Reuters/Hannah McKay NHS at 70: Pride and worry as free health service celebrates birthday On Ward 8, staff serve lunch to the patients Reuters/Hannah McKay NHS at 70: Pride and worry as free health service celebrates birthday On Ward 24, a patient waits on their bed Reuters NHS at 70: Pride and worry as free health service celebrates birthday On Ward 8, a cleaner is at work Reuters/Hannah McKay NHS at 70: Pride and worry as free health service celebrates birthday A nurse takes blood from a patient Reuters/Hannah McKay NHS at 70: Pride and worry as free health service celebrates birthday On Ward 8, an inpatient receives a visitor Reuters/Hannah McKay NHS at 70: Pride and worry as free health service celebrates birthday Inpatient Donald Ritson lies in bed in Ward 24 in Milton Keynes University Hospital Reuters

“It’s far better to have targets that are clinically appropriate and supported by clinicians.”

The four-hour target was put under review by Theresa May’s government and changes to prioritise patients with serious conditions – while those with minor problems could wait longer than four hours – are already being trialled.

A decision about whether to scrap it altogether is due to be taken by NHS England in the coming months.

Last year, the Royal College of Emergency Medicine warned that getting rid of the A&E target would be disastrous.

“In our expert opinion scrapping the four-hour target will have a near-catastrophic impact on patient safety in many emergency departments that are already struggling to deliver safe patient care in a wider system that is failing badly,” said Dr Taj Hassan, the professional body’s president.

Mr Hancock, speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live, also claimed the government would solve the gathering crisis in social care within the year.