A&E performance fell to the lowest level on record in March as the NHS continues to face unprecedented pressure.

Just 84.6% of accident and emergency patients in England were seen within four hours last month, dropping from 85% in February and compared to 90% in March 2017.

And the number of people suffering waits of more than 12 hours more than tripled, compared to the same month the year before.

Medics said the backlog created by the situation would leave some hospitals struggling to catch up.

President of the Society for Acute Medicine Nick Scriven called the figures the "clearest indication yet of the eternal winter we now face in the NHS" and urged a turning point in planning.


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"As we settle into spring, hospitals remain under immense pressure, and I am unsure how on earth we are going to catch up with elective surgery given some non-urgent operations continue to be cancelled in parts of the country," he said.

The numbers mean the NHS in England has recorded its four worst ever figures for its key A&E target in the last four months.

In December, 85.1% of people were seen within the four hour window, and in January 85.3% were seen.

Some 76,054 patients faced "trolley wait" delays of more than four hours, compared to 42,970 in the same month last year, and of these 853 were more than 12 hours compared to 270 in March 2017.

Waiting times for planned treatment have also failed to meet targets for the last two years, with 87.9% of patients starting treatment within 18 weeks. The NHS benchmark is 92%.

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It came as A&E departments saw more emergency admissions in March than any month on record, with the number up 3.3% to 526,398.

An NHS England spokesperson said: "As expected, these figures for a month ago confirm what was widely reported at the time, namely that during March the NHS continued to experience severe winter pressures."

The headline indicator in type one A&E departments - 24-hour units equipped for the most serious cases - was also the lowest since records began, with 76.4% of patients seen in four hours compared to 85.1% last March.

With freezing winter temperatures resulting in unprecedented demand at A&E departments, some hospitals had to cancel planned operations in order to prioritise emergency care.

In badly affected areas, cancer operations were cancelled - a move Royal College of Surgeons vice president Ian Eardley called "utterly unacceptable".

"To avoid such a situation arising again, planning for next winter must start now," he said. "There also needs to be a concrete plan for dealing with the backlog that has grown over this winter."