COLCHESTER General Hospital declared it was under serious pressure six days in a row.

Colchester Hospital University NHS Foundation Trust was one of 25 trusts which declared alerts every day from January 3 to January 8.

The problems were revealed when the latest weekly figures were released on Friday.

Prime Minister Theresa May said: "I recognise, and we have acknowledged, that the NHS is under pressure.

"We always see increased pressures in the NHS over the winter period.

"That's why in preparing for the winter period this time, £400 million was put in to ensure that winter-preparedness."

Mark Holland, from the Society for Acute Medicine, said: "So far this winter we have not seen exceptional winter conditions to put undue pressure on the NHS, unseasonably mild weather and no evidence of a flu epidemic so far.

"Hence we conclude that our services are unable to cope with the conditions of a normal winter. The Government must now accept that the NHS cannot cope with a normal winter.

"When will the Prime Minister accept that we have a crisis on our hands? With the current cold snap about to bite, one would anticipate that nothing is going to improve very quickly.

"We must accept that we now face a national emergency in the NHS in England."