The president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine says the emergency care system is on its knees

NHS England has rejected claims by the Red Cross that it is facing a “humanitarian crisis” amid growing political pressure over the state of hospital and ambulance services.

The Red Cross has stepped in to help deal with increased demand over winter, ferrying emergency patients and sending volunteers to wards and home care services in the east Midlands. The charity’s chief executive, Mike Adamson, called for more government money in social care to stabilise an “increasingly complex and chaotic situation”.

Professor Keith Willett, director of acute care for NHS England, said the health service was not at the point of humanitarian crisis “on the international scale,” but admitted that staff were faced unprecedented pressure caused by record demand. Mr Willett stopped short of criticising the