Overwhelming patient demand has seen accident and emergency waiting times plunge to their worst levels in a decade and several hospitals implement major incident plans to cope.
Health professionals estimate nearly a third of people going to A&E are not emergency cases, while a lack of community healthcare has also been blamed for adding to the problem.
In response to the crisis, many viewers have contacted Sky News via email to relate their personal experiences of A&E.
Here are some of them:
:: Alan Pitts
"My 92-old-mother spent just over 24 hours in the A&E department in December. They ran out of blankets pillows, chairs and beds.
"The hospital was like a third world country. The general manager of the hospital advised me that the hospital was operating in an unsafe condition."
:: Barry Fryer
"My 96-year-old mother recently had a bad fall and had to wait on a trolley in a corridor for three hours whilst the staff dealt with more serious patients.
"There was no room on the wards and there were 10 patients on trollies in the corridor. Some were bleeding from cuts and wounds.
"The more serious patients turned out to be aggressive drunks which ended up in security staff and the police being called.
"My mother was 'seen' within the four-hour period but that was only someone taking details of the problems. She was not treated or seen by a doctor for more than seven hours.
"Why should drunks take over A&E departments and why shouldn't they be made to pay for the costs of their self-inflicted problems clogging up A&E?"
:: Wendy McKenzie - her mother, who died last August, had been a patient at two hospitals
"Both hospitals have large A&E departments and in all instances my mum was treated very well. Even if there was a wait someone kept checking on her.
"The last incident could have been very traumatic as she had taken a bad fall.
"The ambulance service were great, ensuring that mum suffered as little discomfort as possible and stayed with her until they could officially hand her over to the medics in A&E.
"The team there again were great.
"Yes, we had to wait even though this was late at night, but nurses continually checked on her and she was treated well.
"Sadly she did not survive, passing away two days later due to a massive haemorrhage. I cannot speak more highly of how she was treated."
:: Shona Wedderburn
"I was in A&E three weeks ago and I was seen within half-an-hour for an X-ray and I was taken into the nurse within an hour of that for my details tombs confirmed.
"I did have to wait nearly four hours to see the doctors but that was due to six ambulances coming in with emergencies, two of which were for resuscitation so to say that 92.6% is bad is wrong."
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Gallery: When Should You Go To A&E?
Unresponsive - Loss of consciousness
Confusion - Acute confused state and fits that are not stopping
