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Jeremy Hunt condemned millions of patients to “indefinite” A&E waits yesterday as he said the promise to see every patient within four hours should be scrapped.

In a shock statement to Parliament, the Tory Health Secretary said the long-standing pledge to treat every A&E patient within a four-hour window should now apply to “urgent” cases only.

Labour’s shadow health secretary Jon Ashworth accused Mr Hunt of “rewriting and downgrading” one of the NHS’s most important pledges.

Liberal Democrat health spokesman Norman Lamb added: “This is a slippery slope towards the downgrading of standards of care across the NHS.

“If the Health Secretary thinks it is acceptable for patients to be left waiting indefinitely in A&Es then he is sorely mistaken.

(Image: Getty Images Europe)

“And Jeremy Hunt needs to clarify what he means by ‘urgent cases’. Does that include injured kids, or elderly people who have fallen seriously ill?”

Mr Hunt’s dramatic statement comes with A&E wards at breaking point across Britain due to the desperate lack of cash for the NHS and social care services.

Two people have died at a hospital in Worcestershire while waiting on trolleys and the Red Cross has warned of a “humanitarian crisis”.

Speaking in the Commons Mr Hunt admitted there were “very serious problems” in some hospitals and warned of “further pressures” in the coming weeks.

(Image: PA)

He insisted the Government remains “committed to maintaining and delivering” the “vital four-hour commitment” in A&E - but made clear it should no longer apply to every patient.

Mr Hunt said: “It is clear we need to have an honest discussion with the public about the purpose of A&E departments.

“Since (the target) was announced in 2000, there are nearly nine million more visits to our A&Es - up to 30% of whom NHS England estimate do not need to be there.

“If we are going to protect our four-hour standard, we need to be clear that it is a promise to sort out all urgent health problems within four hours, but not all health problems – however minor.”

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Mr Hunt went on to attack “selfish” and “irresponsible” people who clog up A&E departments after drunken mishaps.

“It is frankly selfish to behave in an irresponsible way and then create pressure on an A&E which means that someone else who needs that help may not be able to get it,” he said.

But doctors’ groups made clear the ongoing Tory funding squeeze on NHS and social care services is to blame for the current crisis.

British Medical Association chair Dr Mark Porter said: “The government has failed utterly to get to grips with the scale of the problem, and we heard nothing in the Health Secretary’s statement which patients will take comfort from.

“We need urgent investment in health and social care.”

Chris Moulton, vice president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, said four hours was a long time to wait even if a condition was non-urgent, and added: “How can we decide who can wait until we have actually seen the patients?”

Last night panicking officials in Mr Hunt’s department insisted the A&E target has not been officially watered down.

A spokesman insisted: “There are no plans to alter the four-hour target. We remain absolutely committed to it.”