The NHS is preparing to face the ‘worst winter it has ever endured’ with more than a million patients expected to wait more than four hours in A&E over the cold season.
Almost 300,000 patients could also end up stranded on trolleys in corridors as they wait for treatment, the British Medical Association (BMA) has warned.
The union said harsh weather conditions, the potential of a severe flu outbreak and the uncertainty of Brexit could cripple the health service this winter.
Experts say at least another 10,000 beds are needed to give hospitals in England and Wales a chance over the coming months.
The BMA’s warning comes after recent years have seen staff overloaded by people wanting hospital treatment during the cold spell.
The British Medical Association predicts more than a million patients could be forced to wait for more than four hours in A&E over the winter
BMA chairman Dr Chaand Nagpaul said: ‘Enough is enough. Right across the health service, trusts and GP practices will be bracing themselves for what looks set to be the worst winter the NHS has ever endured.
‘Patients should not fear needing hospital care or being able to see their GP, nor should they have to accept that they may spend hours on a trolley in an emergency department waiting to be treated.’
He made the comments as the association publishes its election manifesto to lay out demands for the next Government to address.
The warning comes as part of the BMA’s worst-case scenario, which drew on previous NHS data.
Interviews for the union’s Doctor magazine saw one medic describe how patients have suffered cardiac arrests in corridors while they waited for treatment.
The unnamed Midlands emergency medicine consultant said the summer had been ‘absolutely brutal’.
They added: ‘It’s really corrosive for staff because they are coming into work with patients lining the corridor.
‘We have been putting patients onto bits of corridor we have never used before – we are actually expanding into new areas.
‘There have been cardiac arrests on the corridor in a number of places. We are completely under the cosh and I don’t think there’s an emergency department in England or Wales that thinks that patient care isn’t going to suffer over winter.’
Another south-west specialty trainee in emergency medicine said conditions were ‘not safe’.
The comments came after Nottingham University Hospitals Trust (NUHT) declared a ‘critical incident’ this week due to pressures on its emergency services.
Simon Walsh, BMA’s emergency medicine lead, said the analysis showed 10,000 more beds were desperately needed.
He added: ‘It is notable that even the chief executive of NHS England, Simon Stevens, has recently acknowledged that we need to go into winter with more hospital beds than last year.
‘The problem, of course, is that trusts don’t have the funding or staff to do that, so what is required is for the Government to acknowledge the scale of the problem and to fund these additional beds and staff before it’s too late.’
The BMA has launched its manifesto for health ahead of the General Election, calling for health spending to be increased by at least 4.1 per cent each year.
It has also demanded the current pensions system – which is seeing senior doctors reduce their hours to avoid large tax bills – be scrapped.
The union wants the public to have the final say on a Brexit deal and for safe staffing levels to have a legal footing.
Niall Dickson, chief executive of NHS Confederation, said: ‘As the NHS hurtles towards another monumentally busy winter period, we are facing a ticking timebomb where vital shifts might not be filled because of the ongoing pensions crisis.
‘We welcome the Department of Health and Social Care’s commitment to introduce changes to the NHS pensions scheme for senior doctors but we cannot afford to wait until April for these to be rolled out given that vacancies are high, staff are understandably refusing to take on extra shifts and demand for services is growing.’
Shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth said: ‘Doctors on the frontline are confirming what patients are telling us every day – the NHS is in crisis under the Tories and you can’t trust anything they say.
‘Already, waiting lists are at 4.4 million and, in the last year, shamefully over 600,000 patients languished on trolleys in corridors not able to get a bed after Tory bed cuts of over 15,000.
‘Ministers should apologise to every patient for this coming winter of misery.’