The A&Es under the most strain revealed – is yours on the list?

ONE in three people attending A&E in some parts of England face a “dangerous” wait of at least 12-hours, new figures reveal.

Official figures, published for the first time on Thursday, unveil the true extent of the NHS crisis up and down the country.

Some 125,000 Brits out of just under 1.2million who sought urgent medical help in February waited more than half a day after arriving at the hospital.

Until now, the NHS only shared data which counted 12-hour waits after a decision was made to admit a patient, often many hours after their arrival. 

The new figures, which capture wait time from when people arrive into A&E, suggest one in ten seeking emergency help experienced delays of at least half a day before being admitted, discharged, or transferred to another service. 

But in some of the worst performing hospitals, like Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals NHS Trust, the figure rises to almost one in three patients (31 per cent). 

Meanwhile, one in four patients (25 per cent) had to wait 12-hours at East Kent Hospitals and Blackpool Teaching Hospitals.

Not all of the hospitals in England provided the data.

Dr Adrian Boyle, the president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, said: “We must get to work and reduce and eliminate these dangerous delays and overcrowding in emergency departments that we know are harmful to patients.”

It comes as around 30,000 doctors from the BMA union are refusing to work until Saturday as they demand a 35 per cent rise.

More than 250,000 appointments will be cancelled, including for critically-ill cancer patients, as staff focus on life-or-death cases.

The public has since been warned to “use services wisely” as the NHS faces the “most disruptive strike” in its history this week.