THE NHS winter crisis has already begun, leading A&E doctors have warned as a survey shows 83 per cent are treating patients in corridors.

A new snapshot poll from the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM), published today, found the vast majority are not confident their departments will cope well over the winter months.

The study found 51 per cent have patients being cared for in ambulances outside the department.

Nearly all believed patients are coming to harm because of conditions.

Four in 10 felt less prepared for winter compared with last year.

Royal College of Emergency Medicine president Dr Adrian Boyle said: “This is a stark warning from those on the front line.

“Clinicians are worried and patients are unsafe.

“Winter is coming, and it looks like we are facing a massive crisis is every part of the UK.

“Let’s remember we are talking about people, and a workforce running on fumes trying to do their best.

“All this with the backdrop of a government telling them they need to work harder and more effectively, but which has not invested any more resources for these winter months.”

He said last month’s Budget had “nothing to address or ease the pressures in A&Es this winter,” adding: “The government may have written off winter, but we haven’t.”

Keep Our NHS Public co-chair Dr Tony O’Sullivan said: “Fourteen thousand people died in the last year from delays in emergency care, yet the Budget gave nothing to mitigate disaster this winter.

“If NHS England’s ‘the safety and dignity of patients is number one priority’ means anything, the government must immediately support front-line care with extra funding, for A&E and ambulances, for GPs, social care and mental health.

“And the bullying tone of ‘league tables’ must be dropped now.

“Fifty thousand patients deteriorating or dying in corridors and on trolleys waiting for over 12 hours for a bed is not a sign of staff failure but of systemic neglect of our health service, its staff and patients.”

NHS England said staff have been putting “in the hard work to put the system in the best possible position for this winter” but conceded “while these efforts mean that four-hour A&E performance is currently up on last year, this winter is likely to be another challenging one.”