Senior emergency doctors fear for the safety of A&E patients this winter, a poll has shown.
A total of 94 percent feel that people are actually being harmed by the circumstances.
Another 87 percent are not confident their department will handle well this winter.
The Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) also highlighted that 83% of patients were treated in corridors, half of them in ambulances outside hospitals.
RCEM president Dr Adrian Boyle said: “Doctors are worried and patients are unsafe.
“Winter is coming and it looks like we are facing a huge crisis in every part of the UK.
“This is a stark warning from those on the front lines.
“We can't just ignore winter and our patients.
“Our patients, every one of them weak and sick, in need of care and comfort, and every mother, father, grandfather or great-grandparent of someone, is condemned to the indignity and dehumanization of so-called ‘corridor care’.”
“This euphemism, in effect, means that people are stranded for hours on trolleys or chairs.
“And with every passing hour, the risk associated with these people dying as a result increases.”
He added: “Let's remember that we are talking about people, about a workforce that is working to do its best.
“All this under a government that tells them they need to work harder and more effectively, but has not invested any additional resources for these winter months.
“There was nothing in the budget to address or alleviate pressures in emergency rooms this winter, no increase in bed numbers, and no additional social care support, which could keep people out of hospital in the first place or allow them to leave when they are.” Good enough.
The government may have written off winter, but we haven't. We will continue to highlight the harm, what needs to be done to eliminate it, and hold them accountable for the unavoidable and unacceptable risks our patients are exposed to.
An NHS England spokesperson said: “This winter is likely to be another challenge.”
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