The NHS is facing the "worst crisis in emergency care we have ever known", according to York MP Rachael Maskell.

Her comments came after visiting York Hospital for a tour of the accident and emergency department last week.

Ms Maskell, Labour MP for York Central, said she had wanted to listen to the voices of the "most incredibly dedicated, professional and caring NHS staff who serve our city in the most challenging circumstances imaginable".

She claimed that every day patients were being seen in bays and corridors as "staff strive to keep patients safe and well cared for".

But she said staff were being "pushed beyond their limits", with the biggest challenge being patient flows.

She said there was "woeful social care capacity to meet demand", adding that staff in social care are paid too little to stay in the role.

Ms Maskell said staff at York Hospital were doing all they could to keep patients safe - but the unrelenting pressures they faced was causing them to "break down in tears every day".

The MP said hope was on the way in the shape of the new emergency department to open in York in May this year.

But she added that more staff needed to be recruited to meet patient need, saying that the NHS currently has 133,500 vacancies, including 47,000 nursing vacancies.

Ms Maskell, who is vice-chair of the Health and Social Care Select Committee, said: “I am incredibly grateful for staff coming in on their day off to share their growing concerns for patients. The retention crisis in the NHS is preventing them from providing care in the way that they would want. One Sister described how staff are constantly conflicted and compromised, while another talked about how they could not give people the dignity a patient should have while being nursed in a corridor.

“A senior consultant described how this had been the worst six months he has ever known as a specialist in the department and until there was a comprehensive workforce plan addressing training a new generation of staff, a retention strategy to keep staff and opportunity to provide recovery for traumatised staff, that the situation would get worse.

“Staff wanted to convey that they are there to treat the sickest residents in York, however for those that are able to consult other parts of the NHS, they should.

“I want to convey my sincere gratitude to staff. It was really clear that we are so lucky to have such dedicated staff at York Hospital who are completely dedicated to their patients and will do everything they can to keep us safe and well cared for.”

A spokesperson for York and Scarborough Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which runs York Hospital, said: “Rachael Maskell’s visit highlighted the well-documented pressures facing our emergency department in York and others like it up and down the country. Our staff continue to do a fantastic job in providing care for patients in the most difficult of circumstances.”