The NHS waiting list in England has reached a record seven million people.
The performance of A&E departments worsened last month and ambulance response times lengthened for patients with the most serious conditions.
Bosses said the NHS had faced huge pressures this summer, including in discharging patients and social care. They called on people to have flu and coronavirus jabs to reduce the winter pressure.
Last month on average only 40 per cent of patients were discharged when ready and 13,305 beds a day were occupied by patients who did not need to be in hospital. This meant A&E departments could not send patients to wards and unload patients from ambulances.
A&E departments dealt with only 56.9 per cent of patients within four hours last
