Shadow health secretary Andy Burnham suggested yesterday that a Labour government must cut GP appointment waiting times to no longer than 48 hours.

Mr Burnham made his announcement at a specially convened Commons summit on the escalating crisis in hospital Accident and Emergency Departments.

He told the gathering of A&E staff, ambulance workers and social care staff that the present situation where people had to repeatedly ring up hoping for a doctor's appointment was "just not good enough."

Labour had introduced the 48-hour commitment but this had been dropped in June 2010, said Mr Burnham. "I think we should bring that back."

Ambulance crews poured out their frustrations in a Commons committee room over growing queues at A&E departments while nurses protested about ever-growing pressures and shortages of beds.

They reported that use of private and volunteer ambulances is on the upsurge again, with privateers providing one third of the crews on duty in Leeds last Friday.

A&E sister Angela Bartholomew said her job had been constant crisis management this summer, even before the winter rush began.

Even at midnight there were sometimes still 80 to 90 people in the department waiting for treatment, she said.

Other workers told how a huge number of people with mental health problems were ending up in A&E while the NHS 111 service was being inundated with calls from people seeking emergency dental care.

Mr Burnham promised to act on the concerns expressed by health workers and to raise the issues urgently during a Labour-sponsored Commons debate on the A&E crisis next Wednesday.