The NHS is in “meltdown” as panicking parents swamp the struggling service with Strep A fears.
Sick children have been waiting up to 10 hours on hospital floors to be seen in crowded emergency departments.
While a 92-year-old woman spent 30 hours waiting on a hospital corridor due to a lack of beds.
Hospitals, doctors surgeries and ambulances, across the UK are all being swamped by terrified families while 111 is also under pressure.
One hard-hit hospital is now urging parents to “stay calm” and not to bring their child into A & E unless it’s “absolutely necessary”.
Mums described hospitals in Gwent and Peterborough as like a “war-scene” with dozens of children lying on floors.
Amid this chaos, thousands of exhausted ambulance workers and NHS staff are due to strike on December 21st in a dispute over pay.
Now on top of the normal winter pressures the NHS are having to deal with stressed families worried after the eighth child died of a Strep A infection.
The Grange University Hospital, a trauma centre in Gwent, confirmed they saw 90 children on Monday evening and had up to ten hour waits.
One mum who was there, wrote on Facebook : “I cannot believe how many children were led on floors and the line of people waiting to be seen. It was like a war scene. There must have been at least fifty children on the floors…”
Consultant in Adult and Paediatric Emergency Medicine at The Grange University Hospital, Dr Rob Stafford, said: “We know there are a lot of parents and carers who are anxious about Strep A at the moment, but I would urge people to stay calm."
They said complications of Strep were “rare” and there were “many other illnesses circulating at the moment” which can be treated at home with paracetamol and ibuprofen products.
“...It is particularly important that parents avoid taking their children to the Emergency Department at The Grange University Hospital unless absolutely necessary to ensure those children who are seriously ill can be seen and treated quickly,” they added.
Janet Malphus, 69, a retired business owner, told how the A&E in Peterborough City Hospital resembled “a third world country” on Monday.
The mum of three had taken her son, Robert, 40, to the hospital in Cambridgeshire after a 999 call handler warned it was a 16 hour wait for an ambulance.
She said: “He had been suffering with sickness and diarrhoea for weeks but he couldn’t get anyone to listen or the right treatment.
“By the time I got to him he was so dehydrated and in such a bad state that if I hadn’t taken him I don’t think he would still be here.
“When we got there the waiting room was completely overwhelmed and overflowing, there was nowhere to sit.
“Mothers were coming in with babies clearly in distress, the poor babies didn’t know what to do with themselves; they were just coughing and crying. There were children and babies on the floor.
“In 2001 my husband had a major stroke and the difference in A&E between then and now is that we have gone to a third world country. I’ve honestly never seen anything like it. It was mayhem.”
Janet added that staff were constantly on the go and never once stopped to see any of them “take a breather”.
Patients at the Royal Liverpool Hospital, which treats adults only, were also complaining of long waits saying it felt “like being in the middle of a serious incident.”
Barry Kushner, 61, whose 92-year-old cousin was the one waiting for 30 hours, said it was “scary” to witness the terrible state of his local hospital.
The elderly patient left “delirious” after a bad fall - spent over a day on a trolley at the Royal Liverpool Hospital.
A trust spokesperson described it as “incredibly challenging circumstances”
Barry, a Labour councillor, said: “The NHS service, the ambulance service and the adult social care service is on its knees.
“I think it’s in meltdown and it could take years to sort out.
“This is our safety net. If you are sick, basically, you are going to end up here, and it feels a bit scary.
“It’s not functioning in the way that it should.”
Barry, from Liverpool, said his cousin’s terrible experience began on Thursday evening when she picked up an infection after suffering a fall in her own home.
He called for an ambulance at around 10.30 pm but the emergency service didn’t reach her for 11 hours.
Barry had hoped his cousin, who he didn’t name, would receive a bed as soon as she arrived, but she then spent 30 hours in a corridor for one to become available He is worried that the 92-year-old’s condition may have been made worse due to the time she spent on the corridor.
He said: “I can’t fault the staff, and I can’t fault the hospital… But the way the health service is organised is totally chaotic. It’s not working.”
Dr Jim Gardner, Chief Medical Officer at Liverpool University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: “It is widely recognised that Emergency Departments across the country are facing significant pressures.
“Despite these incredibly challenging circumstances, our staff are working extremely hard to care for patients as quickly as possible…”
*Symptoms of Strep A are aa high temperature above 38°C, severe muscle aches, localised muscle tenderness, and redness at the site of a wound.
Thornton Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool admit their waiting times are currently “extreme”.
But they said: “We are seeing increased pressure on the Department this winter and an increased number of attendances.
“This means we are seeing waiting times that are extreme even for this busy time of year. ”
UNISON head of health Sara Gorton said: “The NHS is already in a dire state.
“Anxious parents are taking no chances with their children’s health, but it’s piling even more pressure on services.
“That’s why staff are doing the unthinkable by striking over pay and staffing. If the government’s to fix the NHS, it must talk to unions about pay right now. That’s the only way to rebuild the workforce and meet patients’ needs.”
All routine procedures at Belfast’s paediatric hospital have been postponed after an increase in children presenting with bacterial and viral infections.
In a statement on Wednesday evening, the Belfast Trust said the hospital is experiencing “very significant pressures”.
It said 227 children attended its emergency department on Tuesday, and that the number of children attending with symptoms of bacterial and viral infections has increased.
Meanwhile, a scarlet fever outbreak at a rural primary school has resulted in two children being admitted to hospital. A total of 24 children at Brynaman Primary School in Carmarthenshire have been diagnosed with the bacterial infection.
Councillor Glynog Davies, cabinet member for education and Welsh language, said five schools across Carmarthenshire had scarlet fever cases of varying numbers.
