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It comes after last month’s accident and emergency waiting time targets had the second lowest result on record.
But the embattled Health Secretary refused to say sorry to overworked doctors and nurses.
He said: “When they signed up to go into medicine they knew there would be pressurised moments.”
Mr Hunt referred to the flu outbreak as tough on frontline services.
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“I apologise to patients”
Jeremy Hunt
In the interview with ITV he added: “In terms of pressures on the system, I think it probably is the worst ever. I take responsibility for everything that happens in the NHS. I apologise to patients when we haven’t delivered the care that we should.”
NHS England figures show just 85.3% of patients were seen in A&E departments within the waiting-time target of four hours last month.
And the public body later referred to it as the “worst flu season in years” with 215 confirmed deaths.
More than 1,000 patients had to wait more than 12 hours to be seen last month.
Last winter saw the worst strain on services in December 2016 and January 2017 since records began.
Royal College of Nursing chief executive Janet Davies said: “Last month, over 81,000 people going to A&E had to wait more than four hours for a bed – the worst figure on record.”
Dr Nick Scriven, president of the Society for Acute Medicine, said: “Last year we coined the phrase ‘eternal winter’, but the last month and a half has shown an even steeper decline as demonstrated by all the data available – particularly around the four-hour emergency target.”
Labour’s shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth said: “The human stories from the worst winter crisis on record have shocked the nation.”
An NHS England spokesman said: “Despite the worst flu season in seven years, A&E performance improved this month.”