THE Health Secretary clashed with North-East MPs today (Tuesday, May 21)  over long waits in A&E departments, amid evidence the crisis is deepening.

Jeremy Hunt was accused of ignoring warnings – made two years ago – that the introduction of the new NHS 111 helpline would overload casualty wards.

The helpline was tested out in County Durham and Darlington, before replacing NHS Direct across England last month – against the advice of leading doctors, it is alleged.

Callers have waited up to 30 minutes to get an answer on the 111 line – or abandoned calls altogether – forcing people to go to A&E instead.

Meanwhile, experts are warning that emergency care systems could collapse within six months in some areas, as a result of rising demand.

And many hospitals have simply dropped the Government's four-hour target to deal with patients arriving in casualty because of soaring demand, an inquiry by MPs was told today (Tuesday, May 21).

In the Commons, Bishop Auckland MP Helen Goodman said the key problem was that the 111 service was sending too many patients to A&E with minor complaints.

And she told Mr Hunt: “The ambulance drivers in my constituency warned of this two years ago, when the service was trialled.

“And, last year, the North-East local medical committee also told the department of health that the system was not working.

“It is the Secretary of State who has his head in the sand. Why does he not listen to the professionals on the ground?”

Tom Blenkinsop, the Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland MP, challenged Mr Hunt to say how many NHS walk-in centres had closed since the 2010 general election.

But the Health Secretary failed to respond, instead blaming Labour’s 2004 GP contract – allowing family doctors to opt out of out-of-hours care – for the crisis.

Mr Hunt said: “As a result of those disastrous changes to the GP contract, we have seen a significant rise in attendances at A&E - four million more people.”

And he told Ms Goodman: “I am prepared to look at the whole of the 111 service to see whether it is delivering the service that the public need.

“However, the issues with 111 have focused public attention on the poor standard of out-of-hours care in many parts of the country.

“There is a particular issue of enabling people to speak out of hours to a GP who can, with their permission, look at their medical record, which is a pretty basic starting point.”

Yesterday, the health select committee heard that, over the past year, the number of A&E patients who waited between four and 12 hours increased by 34,000.

But the head of the NHS Confederation insisted there was no correlation between the recent decline in performance and the changes to GP contracts, almost a decade ago.