HOSPITAL emergency departments and staff in Wales are at breaking point due to 'unyielding pressures, day and night', fear doctors' representatives.

The stark warning from the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) Wales follows performance figures showing a sharp rise in A&E attendances in December, as winter demand began to bite.

And anecdotal evidence suggests demand is unrelenting this month too.

Attendances at A&E units across Wales rose by 5.4 per cent last month, compared to December 2016, and the percentage of those patients dealt with inside four hours last month was down in five of the six health board areas where acute services are provided.

These included Gwent's Aneurin Bevan University Health Board, where 75.3 per cent of patients were dealt with inside four hours last month in A&E at the Royal Gwent and Nevill Hall Hospitals, against 76 per cent in December 2016.

But there was a notable difference between units at the hospitals. Last month at Nevill Hall, 81.8 per cent of A&E patients were dealt with inside four hours, while at the Royal Gwent, the rate was 71.9 per cent.

A minimum 95 per cent of A&E patients should be dealt with inside four hours, though this has not been achieved at any unit in Wales for several years.

Worryingly too, there was a 26 per cent increase - to 3,741 - in patients in Wales who waited above 12 hours.

Aneurin Bevan was one of just two health boards to record a reduction, albeit small, in waits of more than 12 hours last month, compared to December 2016, though 554 patients still endured such waits.

All health boards saw an increase in A&E attendances last month compared to December 2016.

RCEM Wales backs a letter to First Minister Carwyn Jones and cabinet secretary for health and social services Vaughan Gething - signed by 46 emergency department physicians, including some from Gwent - demanding action.

Its vice president Dr Robin Roop said December's figures "paint a stark picture of the unyielding pressures faced by emergency medicine staff, day and night", but come as no surprise.

"The college, my professional colleagues, and numerous other specialties have warned that our health and social care services are under-resourced and under-staffed to meet the current, predicted demand," said Dr Roop.

He described as "too little, too late" the extra £10 million from the Welsh Government, announced earlier this month, to help relieve winter pressures, and warned:

“To provide safe and high-quality care for all patients we need more capacity in the entire health and social care system.

"This means more hospital beds, more nurses, more doctors and more social care facilities, all year round. Let’s act now and plan for future demand so that patients receive the high-quality service that we all aspire to provide."

Mr Gething said the NHS in Wales "has continued to perform under exceptional pressure, in delivering emergency and scheduled care, and thanked staff for their "commitment and hard work".

“We still need to drive up performance in a number of areas, but under severe pressure and record levels of demand our NHS has held up and continues to deliver high quality healthcare to patients,” he said.