Labour warned of cancelled ops and patients stuck on trolleys without a fresh cash booster.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock was urged to “take his head out of the sand” and face up to the looming problem.
Last year the government gave hospitals a £355million winter pressure fund – but critics say it came too late to protect patients from bed shortages, longer waiting times and ambulance queues.
More than 22,800 operations were postponed during a one-month freeze on non-urgent procedures in January.
NHS chiefs also ordered commissioners to relax the rules banning mixed-sex wards. This resulted in 18,000 “breaches” in the past year – compared to 2,431 in 2014-15.
There were 186,000 ambulance handover delays over 30 minutes or more and bed occupancy was above safe levels.
Shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth last night called on the government to match his pledge of a £500million winter bailout now.
He also challenged ministers to rule out any suspension of the guidelines on mixed-sex wards.
Mr Ashworth said: “Our NHS stands on the brink of a winter of cancellation and cuts.
“Every year the crisis in hospitals gets worse and worse, with millions waiting too long in A&E and thousands stuck on trolleys or even in ambulances outside hospitals.
“A long term fix for the NHS is well overdue.”
Last night Mr Hancock warned that a Labour government would have even less to spend on the NHS because they don’t know how to handle the economy.
He responded: “Our balanced approach to the economy means we can spend more on public services like the NHS – backing a long-term plan to guarantee the future of our health service with £20.5billion of extra funding by 2023-24 – and provide extra funding through winter. To reduce the impact that the colder weather has on the NHS this year, we are already taking early measures to prepare.
“Labour are not fit to govern and working people would pay the price with a weaker economy and less for the NHS.”
TIME TO GET A GRIP OF HEALTH PLANNING
THIS summer I had the privilege of spending time on a night shift in a busy A&E with brilliant doctors and nurses.
But they were rushed off their feet. All around, people were waiting to be seen including confused, scared, elderly patients on trolleys because of the lack of hospital beds.
This will not surprise Sun on Sunday readers.
Rather than getting a grip last year, Theresa May simply ordered all non-urgent operations to be cancelled in January.
It meant 20,000 people in pain and distress being messed about, not knowing when they would get care. It even meant cancer patients waiting longer for critical care. What a disgrace.
Mixed sex wards are supposed to be a thing of the past but ministers even gave the green light for their return.
As Labour’s Health chief I would be the patients’ champion. We’ll give the NHS the cash it needs so it has more staff, beds and urgent services that the ill and elderly need.
And if we were in government we would set up a £500million fund to help hospitals cope with the worst of winter.
Every year the NHS is under pressure due to the bad weather. We know it’s coming, but Tory ministers have not prepared.
Every patient, doctor and nurse can see the problems ahead. It’s time Tory ministers took their heads out of the sand.
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