LABOUR’S Will Straw has warned of the “extraordinary strain” being placed on staff at the Royal Blackburn Hospital this winter.

The parliamentary candidate for Darwen and Rossendale pointed to a spike in delays in recent weeks and added: “As I know from shadowing the North West Ambulance Service, doctors, nurses and paramedics in the NHS are working flat out around the clock, but simply cannot keep up with the increasing demand.

“People will rightly be concerned by these longer waiting times, queuing ambulances and cancelled operations.

“Labour has been warning the Government about the growing crisis in our hospitals for months and I have been campaigning on this issue in Darwen.”

Mr Straw is set to stand against the borough’s Conservative MP Jake Berry in next year’s General Election.