New Health Secretary Therese Coffey said she waited nine hours in A&E over the summer - only to be told to come back the following day.
Dr Coffey today told the House of Commons that after her aborted attempt to be seen by medics, she headed to another hospital, where she was seen within three hours.
The Health Secretary, who was one of new PM Liz Truss's first cabinet appointments, told MPs: "Just in July I went to A&E, I waited nearly nine hours myself to see a doctor and I still didn't get any treatment, I was asked to go back the next day.
"So I went to a different hospital just three miles away and I was seen and treated appropriately. That's the sort of variation that we're seeing across the NHS."
Dr Coffey, who represents the Suffolk Coastal constituency, did not identify which hospitals were involved.
A source close to the minister said no further details were available as it was a private matter.
Today she promised a "laser-like" focus on NHS problems - setting out plans for patients to see a GP within two weeks.
She also committed to keeping the four hour A&E target, following speculation that this could be scrapped.
The target has not been met since 2015, during which time there have been four Prime Ministers.
Dr Coffey told MPs that "most of the time patients have a great experience but we must not paper over the problems we face", as she noted "too much variation in the access and care people receive across the country".
On ambulances being stuck outside hospitals for hours because they are unable to hand over patients, she pledged "a laser-like focus on handover delays".
She said 45% of ambulance handover delays are occurring in 15 NHS hospital trusts.
She said: "The local NHS will be in intensive work with those trusts to create more capacity in hospitals, the equivalent of 7,000 more beds by this winter, through a combination of freeing up beds with a focus on discharge, and people also staying at home and being monitored remotely through the sort of technology that played such an important role during the pandemic."
Dr Coffey said a £500 million fund would enable medically fit people to be discharged from hospital more quickly, supporting them to receive care in the community or their own homes instead.
Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting criticised Ms Coffey's "Sesame Street" plan as he questioned how the Government will make it easier for patients to see a GP.
He told the House of Commons: "She says patients will be able to get a GP appointment within two weeks - her party scrapped the guarantee of an appointment within two days that Labour introduced when we were in government, and she made it clear this morning that this isn't a guarantee at all, merely an expectation.
"What is the consequence if GPs don't meet her expectation? Well, as we heard on the radio this morning, her message to patients is 'get on your bike and find a new GP'. Are patients supposed to be grateful for this?"
The government's Our Plan for Patients means people will be able to see how well their GP practice performs compared with others - potentially allowing them to join a different one.
The Health Secretary said a range of workers - such as pharmacists, GP assistants and advanced nurse practitioners - will be used to ease the burden on GPs, while urgent cases should be seen on the same day.
The Royal College of GPs said it had not been consulted on the plans, and league tables will not "improve access or standards of care".
The King's Fund said GPs were struggling with demand and "setting new expectations and targets will not suddenly increase the capacity in general practice".
Helen Buckingham, director of strategy at the Nuffield Trust think tank, said: "The truth is that we are chronically short of GPs, with the number of GPs per person in England falling year after year.
"Targets don't create any more doctors."
