A SENIOR York doctor has signed a letter to Prime Minister Theresa May outlining serious concerns top consultants have about their patients - as the NHS struggles to cope with an increase in demand this winter.

Dr Stephen Lord, who runs Accident and Emergency departments at York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust, is one of 68 doctors who have added their signature to a strongly-worded letter, explaining how patients across the country have died prematurely because staff were too busy dealing with a vast number of people.

The correspondence also rejects the Prime Minister’s attempts to convince the public the NHS has been coping in recent weeks, and labels the health service as “chronically underfunded".

New figures released by NHS England show 35 patients had to be diverted away from busy A&E departments across the country in the first week of 2018 - with five of the incidents taking place in emergency departments run by York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.

However, the number of people waiting in the back of ambulances outside hospitals in North Yorkshire for longer than an hour has reduced.

The Press reported last week that 201 ambulances waited outside of hospitals, including York, Scarborough, Malton and Selby, for longer than 60 minutes during Christmas week, but the number dropped to 142 between New Year’s Day and January 7.

A spokeswoman for York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust said: “Core to our trust’s values is the right of staff to speak up on issues that concern them, in the best interests of patients and staff.

“We ask that this is done responsibly, which is the case with this letter from a group of consultants in charge of emergency departments.”

A Department of Health and Social Care spokeswoman said the NHS was given an extra £2.8 billion over the next two years in the last budget. She added: “But we know there is a great deal of pressure in A&E departments, and we are grateful to all NHS staff for their incredible work in challenging circumstances. That’s why we recently announced the largest single increase in doctor training places in the history of the NHS — a 25% expansion.”