Thousands of English patients were stockpiled on hospital trolleys last week as the Tories guided the NHS to its worst ever crisis.

Figures released yesterday revealed more than 16,000 people were left in corridors for up to 12 hours in the country’s cash-strapped A&Es.

Labour shadow health secretary Andy Burnham seized on the latest evidence of unravelling hospital care to attack government “complacency” which “is exposing far too many vulnerable people to too much risk.

“These figures show the Tory A&E crisis is intensifying and putting thousands of patients at risk,” he said, branding it the “worst week the NHS has experienced in living memory.”

The weekly figures came on the same day that privateer Circle walked away from its contract to run Hinchingbrooke hospital in Cambridgeshire.

The firm blamed 10 per cent funding cuts and underpayments to its bursting A&E department for the decision.

Keep Our NHS Public co-chair Professor Sue Richards said: “The evidence for the government’s failed experiment on the NHS is clear to see.”

She highlighted the widespread failure to meet A&E targets with ambulances queuing up outside unable to hand over their patients and therefore missing their own targets to get to patients who have been taken ill or been in an accident.

Cuts to local government resulting in a reduction in the availability of social care, leading to hospitals being unable to discharge recovered patients into the community, and privatised out-of-hours services cutting corners so that people have no alternative but to go to A&E, were also flagged by Ms Richards.

She added: “All this, and today’s decision by Circle, underlines the necessity to vote this government out at the forthcoming general election in May.”