
Overwhelmed hospitals are putting A&E patients alongside women on maternity wards and cancelling hundreds of cancer operations in a bid to deal with the worst ever crisis in emergency care.
An investigation by The Independent has revealed an alarming escalation of the NHS crisis in all areas of the health service as new figures released on Thursday showed 54,532 patients waited 12 hours for an A&E admission in December, a monthly rise of 44.1 per cent.