LOCAL hospitals are struggling under record pressure as thousands of patients in Wirral arrive at A&E after failing to get an appointment with their family doctor, an official NHS England survey found.

In Wirral, around 7,700 went to an A&E department when they could not see a local GP.

I met a nurse from Arrowe Park Hospital at the weekend who described the number of patients waiting on trolleys as being on a scale he had never witnessed before.

He told me how hard staff are working to deal with the surge in numbers, and how they are struggling to keep up with demand.

The Tory-led government scrapped Labour’s 48-hour GP appointment guarantee.

Now we are seeing patients paying the price for their mismanagement of the NHS.

Margaret Greenwood, Prospective Labour parliamentary candidate, Wirral West.