The NHS is at “breaking point” with a decline in the number of hospital beds compounding the situation, according to the British Medical Association.
A reduction in bed numbers has led to delays in admissions and cancelled operations, the BMA claimed.
In a report, based on official statistics, almost three-quarters of NHS trusts were found to have a bed occupancy rate of over 95% on at least one day in the first week of January this year.
The BMA also reported that in November 2016, 14.8% of patients spent more than four hours waiting for a hospital bed, having been seen in an A&E department.
Its findings have been described by Labour as a “wake-up call which Theresa May must not ignore”.
The Liberal Democrats, meanwhile, warned that the situation in the NHS was becoming “intolerable”.
Full story at ITV News, 20 February 2017