Sick children had to sit on the floor to await treatment after parents worried by Strep A swamped an A&E department.
Shocked mum Chloe Brewer, 35, who photographed the scene, said staff looked “broken” as they struggled to manage the numbers.
Some youngsters endured waits of more than six hours sitting or lying on the cold floor at Peterborough City Hospital before being seen even by a triage nurse.
The disturbing pictures emerged as a 16th child died from the Step A outbreak across the country.
Chloe, who fears things will “only get worse” as the cold snap bites, made her desperate trip to A&E with son Hayden, five, after failing to get a GP appointment.
His temperature had hit 40C, he was struggling to breathe and was lethargic.
Chloe spent three hours on the waiting room floor before she had to leave Hayden and return home to care for her other son.
At 2am she got a call saying he could be seen by a triage nurse – over six hours after he arrived.
The single mum said: “The NHS is on its knees. The scenes were like nothing I could ever have imagined. It was absolutely heaving. You could not even navigate around the waiting room.
“Every chair was taken and there were people all over the floor, including very poorly children sleeping there while they waited.
“Every child looked very, very unwell. There was a boy next to us whose lips had turned blue as he couldn’t breathe properly.
“He had been there several hours longer than us and still hadn’t been seen.
“The nurses looked completely fed up and broken, which I totally understand. I’m very much a champion of the NHS.”
Chloe, from Stamford, Lincs, said she had no choice but to go to A&E after Hayden’s condition be- came worse.
She went on: “Everyone’s children I know are poorly right now. Hayden had a cough and a cold very much like a normal winter bug but went downhill on Monday.
“Where we live there is only one doctors’ practice.
“You have to ring at 8am, wait an hour in the queue and then it’s 50/50 whether you get a same-day appointment.
“I tried calling 111 as he got worse but I was on hold for nearly 50 minutes and no one answered.”
After failing to be seen at A&E, Hayden was treated by a GP the next day for a double ear infection and chest infection. He is now recovering at home.
Chloe revealed her plight as news emerged that a 16th child had died from the bacteria. The youngster, who has not yet been named, was a pupil at Hove Park School in Hove, East Sussex.
As the death toll rises, many A&Es have been swamped with young patients. The infection has hit the NHS during its busiest period.
Pharmacies are struggling with local shortages of antibiotics, leaving parents desperate to hunt down medicine for sick children.
There is speculation that youngsters are particularly vulnerable because of lack of exposure to common bugs during lockdown.
People often carry Strep A on their skin and throat without symptoms. Infections are usually mild – a sore throat or skin rash.
But in rare cases it can become invasive and enter organs where bacteria aren’t normally found, which can be serious.
A spokesman for North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the Peterborough hospital, said: “We are seeing increased numbers at A&E. While we care for more people, their safety remains an absolute priority.
“We encourage people to use NHS 111 for advice on where to access the most appropriate treatment before they come to hospital.”
