EVERY bed at the Royal Bolton Hospital was filled on four days between Christmas and New Year.

New figures showed that all of the general and acute care beds were occupied at the hospital on December 25, 26, 30, and 31 amid mounting winter pressures.

It emerged this week that tens of thousands of planned operations across the country could be delayed for at least a month as the NHS deals with the most urgent cases.

A spokesman for the Bolton NHS Foundation Trust said: “In common with other hospitals, the Royal Bolton has been and still is, very busy.

“As has been previously reported, here and elsewhere this has included the impact of patients with flu which has limited the number of general and acute beds available.

“Well before Christmas however, we decided not to carry out inpatient non-urgent operations during the first two weeks in January which is now helping to relieve the pressure somewhat by freeing up beds and we currently do have some capacity. We would also like to thank our staff for their sterling work caring for patients.

“As the situation fluctuates the overall picture regarding bed occupancy this week will be clearer when the next set of validated figures are published.”

The figures released on Thursday also revealed that delays in ambulances delivering patients to A&E departments in England had reached their highest level of the winter, as those waiting more than an hour nearly doubled in a week.

The NHS England statistics laid bare the pressures experienced by the health service, including unprecedented demand on its 111 hotline.

A weekly operational update showed that 4,734 emergency patients suffered long waits to be seen in A&E, soaring from 2,413 people in the week before.

A total of 16,893 patients endured ambulance delays of more than 30 minutes over the Christmas stretch - up from 11,852 the previous week to a record high for this winter.

Theresa May has apologised for delays to operations and hospital admissions.

The Prime Minister said: Mrs May said: “I know it’s difficult, I know it’s frustrating, I know it’s disappointing for people, and I apologise.”

Jonathan Ashworth MP, Labour’s shadow health secretary, said: “Labour and clinicians have warned Ministers for months to prepare for this winter, but concerns were casually dismissed out of hand. Theresa May’s boast that the NHS is the best prepared it’s ever been has now been entirely discredited. “

The Royal Bolton also confirmed that it currently has only one patient in critical care with flu. Before Christmas, The Bolton News reported that there were eight.