How is the worst NHS crisis yet affecting YOUR hospital? From A&E waiting times to routine surgery backlogs and bed closures, our interactive tool shows the performance of all trusts

The scale of England’s worst-ever NHS crisis was revealed today by a MailOnline analysis showing how worsening backlogs, rising emergency room waiting times and bed blockers are clogging up hospitals across the country.

Official figures show that a record 7.1 million people were queuing up in the country for routine hospital treatments such as hip and knee operations at the end of September – equivalent to one in eight people.

The number includes more than 400,000 people who have been waiting for more than a year, often in agony.

And our review – which breaks down NHS data by trust level – shows that more than three in five patients waited at least 18 weeks for those operations in September, which are among the worst performing trusts in the country.

Under the health service’s own policy, all patients requiring treatment have the right to be seen within 18 weeks.

The picture in England’s emergency rooms looks a little better. Less than half of the patients were seen within four hours at four of the 169 trusts included in our analysis.

Experts believe the crises in both ED and routine surgery are exacerbated by so-called “bed blockers” who are medically fit for discharge but have nowhere else to go.

Figures from MailOnline showed that as of October 31 these patients occupied a third of all beds at North Bristol NHS Trust, England’s worst-hit trust.

Surgeons said the dire situation would only get worse over the winter months as staff shortages in nurses and beauticians make clearing the ever-growing backlog a nightmare.

Fiona Myint, vice-president of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, compared the workforce’s struggles to Gareth Southgate leading the England football team to the World Cup without a full squad.

Problems caused by vacancies are expected to be exacerbated by planned nursing strikes over the Christmas period after the Royal College of Nursing announced on Wednesday that members had backed union action for the first time in its 106-year history.

Despite the concerns, NHS bosses yesterday boasted that they had reduced the number of patients waiting in line for hospital treatment for 18 months, amid a surge in Covid and flu patients and pressure on emergency departments.

Meanwhile, emergency room performance has weakened to new lows. More than 1,400 ED visitors had to wait more than 12 hours for care each day in October (yellow bars), while the lowest percentage on record was seen within four hours – the NHS target (red line).

MailOnline’s analysis uses figures from three separate NHS data sources on waiting lists, A&E delays and hospital bed occupancy.

Around 191,781 people were waiting for an operation in September at the University of Manchester NHS Foundation Trust, the country’s largest trust.

Just 42.8 per cent of patients waiting for surgery were seen within the 18-week target, while a whopping 23,945 (12 per cent) waited more than a year.

The second biggest waiting list was that of University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, where 159,785 had yet to be seen, 61.5 per cent had waited more than 18 weeks and a fifth had not been seen in a year.

It was followed by Mid And South Essex NHS Foundation Trust (158,016), Northern Care Alliance NHS Foundation Trust (149,659) and University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust (127,891).

Doctors urged the government to quickly invest in staff to clear the backlog and get rid of clogged emergency rooms.

Miss Myint said: “With Jeremy Hunt now in charge, we hope that as chancellor he will remember his regret for not tackling staffing issues earlier and fund a good NHS workforce plan.

“The NHS desperately needs a full team to tackle the record waiting list. Without a funded NHS workforce plan, vacancies will only get worse, leaving staff under immense pressure and feeling burnt out.

“The government has promised a human resources strategy before the end of the year. It can’t come soon enough as we head into winter and hospital waiting lists increase.”

Professor Sir Stephen Powis, national medical director of NHS England, said October had been a “challenging month for staff” amid a “triple malady” of Covid, flu and the A&E crisis.

He said: “We have always said that the overall waiting list will increase as more patients come forward and as the pressure on staff will increase in the winter months, the NHS has a plan – including a new drop-in service across the war rooms and extra beds and on-call staff.

“The public can continue to do their part by taking their surveys and using NHS services as usual, by calling 999 in an emergency and using 111 online for other health issues.”