Ministers were warned yesterday that the NHS needs urgent action to help it cope over the winter after A&E waiting times hit record levels.

Shadow health secretary Andy Burnham said figures showing that 35,373 patients waited more than four hours for treatment in the first week of December should be a “wake-up call.”

The number was a huge 66 per cent higher than the same period last year. Meanwhile, 7,760 people were kept on a trolley for between four and 12 hours before a ward bed was found — up from 3,666.

Mr Burnham said: “Last week was the worst week on record for patients waiting at A&E but the government is acting as if it’s not happening. Ministers can’t carry on like this.

“Before the Commons breaks for Christmas, ministers need to come and set out the measures they will take to help the NHS cope over the Christmas period.

“Labour has been warning the government for months about the growing crisis in A&E but it has failed to act. But even ministers must now accept that these figures are a worrying wake up call.

“David Cameron has allowed A&E to sink into crisis and must now accept his responsibility to turn it around.”

Dr Cliff Mann, president of the College of Emergency Medicine and an A&E doctor at the Taunton and Somerset Hospital, told BBC Radio 4’s World At One it was “a tough year” for casualty departments across the country.

“As the figures show this morning, we are seeing record numbers of people attending our A&E departments and record numbers being admitted to our hospitals,” said Dr Mann.

“It’s rather too often like trying to get a quart into a pint pot. There’s a real pressure on beds, particularly between 10am and 10pm.”

King’s Fund health think tank director of policy Richard Murray said: “It is pretty bleak. The performance numbers that have come out this week are probably the worst we’ve seen at this time of year for a very long time.

“And the number of people showing up at A&E is continually bouncing at the highest level the NHS has ever seen.

“This is not the winter peak.”