Tory leadership candidates tonight admitted NHS backlogs were "terrifying" and "appalling" - 12 years after their party took power.
Taking part in a Channel 4 debate, Kemi Badenoch - one of five MPs hoping to succeed shamed Boris Johnson - admitted she has been unable to get a dentists' appointment for five months after chipping a tooth.
She added that constituents had reported they have been unable to get appointments with GPs.
Ms Badenoch told the Channel 4 debate: "The backlog is terrifying.
"I don't know how much viewers can see of my teeth, I chipped my tooth several months ago, I haven't been able to get a dental appointment to fix it.
"I know how hard it is to get appointments at the moment, I see it in my constituency with people - not just dentists but GP appointments, not getting face-to-face appointments and not being able to get the treatment they need in hospital."
Click here to read what the five candidates' key policies are
She branded it an "emergency situation" - saying "one of the problems that we have to address now is that the NHS is having more money put into it than ever before".
She added: "The backlog won't be dealt if we don't find better and more efficient ways of running our NHS."
Meanwhile her rival Liz Truss branded ambulance waiting times "appalling" as candidates were grilled over how they would improve public services.
Foreign Secretary Ms Truss said the Covid crisis "displaced" normal operations, creating a backlog.
Last month it emerged that a six week cancer test won't be met until 2025 as prospective leaders face serious questions about how they will turn services around.
Ms Truss said: "We need to help patients in rural areas. I'm a rural MP, some of the ambulance waiting times in Norfolk are appalling."
Earlier this week The Mirror reported that the ambulance service is in a “critical” condition as crews get stuck at hospitals for more than a day, risking patients’ lives and causing huge delays in 999 calls.
A poll of ambulance services’ longest delays outside overcrowded A&E departments last month revealed that one West Midlands crew was held for 26 hours in boiling heat on June 6.
In London, also on June 6, a crew had an eight-hour, 23-minute wait.
The North West Ambulance service said their longest handover for the first two weeks of June was 9hrs, 16mins.
The Welsh Ambulance Service had a crew waiting for 26hrs, 58mins.
In the Yorkshire region, the longest hospital handover in recent weeks was on June 7 at Hull Royal Infirmary, where a crew stayed for 9hrs, 36mins.
One ambulance service worker, who did not want to be named, said last month was the “worst June ever”.
Contender Tom Tugendhat appeared to suggest leadership in the health service was to blame.
The former Army officer suggested military planners could help tackle the backlog because "we are looking to drive leadership and efficiency into processes, we are looking to create order out of what is sometimes a confusing situation".
