Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt admits going to A&E instead of a GP Government has urged people not to go to struggling A&E departments Fears of a winter crisis in the coming months as demand increases Hunt admits taking his children to A&E as he 'didn't want to wait Jeremy Hunt has admitted taking his children to A&E over a weekend because he didn't want to wait for a GP appointment. The Health Secretary revealed he had ignored his own department's advice that casualty should be used for urgent or life-threatening cases. He tried to explain why he had not heeded NHS guidance, saying that it is not always clear when emergency care is necessary. Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt admitted going to A&E instead of his local GP surgery. He is pictured with his wife Lucia Guo and two of their children But Labour's health spokesman Andy Burnham accused him of being "irresponsible" by suggesting it was acceptable to use A&E as a way to bypass busy surgeries. Mr Hunt was responding to a point raised in the Commons yesterday by Tory MP Lorraine Fullbrook that pressure in A&E units could be alleviated by GPs opening for longer hours. He said: "I do agree with you. I've taken my own children to an A&E department at the weekend precisely because I didn't want to wait until later on to take them to see a GP. I think we have to recognise that society is changing and people don't always know whether the care that they need is urgent or whether it is an emergency, and making GPs available at weekends will relieve a lot of pressure in A&E departments. He did not say which of his three children he had taken - Jack, four, Anna, two, or Eleanor, who is just four months - when they went, or why. But in an angry exchange with Andy Burnham on Twitter later he added: "If parents have an unwell child needing medical attention, A&E provides a trusted service." Mr Burnham replied: "If all "unwell" people went to A&E, NHS would collapse. Surprised you continue to contradict official advice. Irresponsible. He subsequently wrote a letter to the Health Secretary which said: "Your statement in the House implies that it is acceptable for the public to use A&E on an on-demand basis or as a substitute for GP services." The Prime Minister's official spokesman later said: "I'm not sure the Secretary of State for Health was giving advice. He was describing a challenge which I think many people up and down the country will recognise in terms of access to GPs. Rather than complaining it's time Hunt took responsibility for what is happening in the NHS under his watch 'It's perfectly understandable, particularly those with young children, will want to see a doctor as quickly as possible. Earlier this month the NHS's medical director Professor Bruce Keogh urged the public to stay away from A&E over concerns that many units are overcrowded. The numbers arriving in casualty have soared by 50 per cent in a decade - which has partly been blamed on patients being unable to see a GP. Meanwhile a damning report by the Care Quality Commission has warned that patients at Medway A&E unit in Gillingham, Kent are routinely having to wait more than 12 hours. The report described the unit as "chaotic" and "unsafe" and warned that it could be downgraded or closed if urgent changes are not made. Medway is one of 11 NHS trusts to have been placed in special measures last year but unlike the others it has failed to make progress to improve care. And in a separate intervention, one of the country's most senior doctors said that queues in A&E and GP surgeries will only grow unless the Government invests more in the NHS. Dr Mark Porter, chairman of the British Medical Association's council, said: "The NHS is going through its tightest funding squeeze in half a century. For patients this means unacceptable waits for treatments ... and longer queues in surgeries and A&E.