Ministers are preparing to scrap a raft of NHS targets as patients face record waits for treatment.
Health Secretary Steve Barclay admitted doctors, ambulances and hospitals are coming under “huge pressure”.
Families needing GP appointments are struggling for weeks to be seen, whilst a record numbers are waiting for hospital treatments.
Seriously ill patients face long delays when they call 999, then end up stuck on trolleys in corridors when they eventually do get to A&E.
Mr Barclay was condemned for “not having a clue” as he suggested a solution to the upcoming winter crisis is to simply drop some of the targets that are not being met.
Appearing on Sky News’s Sophy Ridge on Sunday programme, the minister said he wanted “fewer targets” with local health service bosses allowed to set their own priorities.
The current system allows patients to compare how well their local hospitals are performing compared to others around the country.
But Mr Barclay insisted regional NHS chiefs are "better able to tailor the priorities for their local needs,” adding: “No-one is suggesting we don't have any targets," he said.
He denied that A&E waiting-times targets would not be among those to be scrapped, claiming they are "very useful".
Figures from NHS England show the government is failing to meet key targets. The proportion of all patients in A&E and minor injury units being seen, discharged or admitted within four hours fell to 69% in October - well below the 95% NHS target that hasn’t been met since 2015.
More than seven million people are waiting for hospital treatment, such as operations.
Mr Barclay insisted the pressures on the NHS were "predominantly" to do with the pandemic.
But Labour ’s Wes Streeting dismissed this as a “discredited” excuse.
The Shadow Health Secretary said: “We went into the pandemic with NHS waiting lists already at a record 4.5million. The longer the Conservatives are in power the longer patients will wait.”
Daisy Cooper of the Liberal Democrats said that “when it comes to our health and social care services, this government hasn’t got a clue”.
“Patients are being failed as waiting times skyrocket and hospitals crumble. Health workers are on their knees struggling to keep up with growing pressures and shrinking budgets,” she added.
In a separate interview, Mr Barclay insisted the Government has not abandoned the promised reforms of social care.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt announced in the Autumn Statement that changes including an £86,000 cap on personal care cost contributions would be postponed by two years until October 2025.
Mr Barclay said it was a "difficult decision to delay" but told the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme that current circumstances had forced the change.
It comes as it emerged that GPs are being forced to do as many as 90 appointments and consultations a day.
Medical guidelines say doctors should treat a maximum of 25 people each day to deliver safe care.
But severe workforce shortages mean GPs are having to cram in extra work.
Dr Hussain Gandhi, who works at a surgery in Nottingham, said on one day in April he recorded 96 patient consultations, with about 20 patients seen in person and the rest conducted by telephone.
He told the Observer it was an "exceptional day" but reflected the fact that general practices were overburdened.
"General practice is on its knees and if something doesn't change, we will see it break," he said.
"There need to be safe working limits for people working in general practice so they can give a better service to patients."
