The number of patients waiting 12 hours on trolleys has risen by more than 6,000 per cent as hospital overcrowding reaches a record high, NHS figures show.

The Royal College of Surgeons said the situation had become “exceptionally worrying,” urging the next Government to draw up immediate plans to deal with the crisis.

Occupancy levels are now the highest on record - with 91.4 per cent of beds filled, compared to recommended rates of 85 percent, the statistics show.

More than 20 trusts regularly reached occupancy of at least 99 per cent during the period, the figures show.

And the number of patients waiting at least 12 hours in Accident & Emergency departments has risen by 6,831 per cent in seven years, analysis shows.

A report by the British Medical Assocation reveals 2,337 such cases last winter - compared with just 37 in 2010/11.

Clare Marx, president of the college warned that doctors were being left “kicking their heels” and unable to operate, with operations increasingly being cancelled for want of beds.

The pressures follow a series of bed cuts.