Chancellor Philip Hammond hints at extra funding for NHS as region's hospitals feel the strain

Mr Hammond has given an extra £9 billion, including £1.6bn in November, to the NHS since taking office in 2016.

Speaking during a visit to the Black Country, the chancellor accepted the NHS was facing continuing pressures.

Figures released this month also showed hospital A&E departments were struggling, with not one in Black Country and Staffordshire meeting targets to see 95 per cent of patients within four hours.

Strain has also been placed on hospitals through the number of people being treated.

From October to December, hospitals in the West Midlands had extremely high occupancy rates for beds - all above the national average.

It came to a head in January when doctors A&Es across the country, including staff from Walsall Manor Hospital and Russells Hall Hospital in Dudley, signed a letter to the Prime Minister calling for an urgent increase in funding.

They said the compromise of safety at hospitals was 'intolerable' and the NHS was 'severely and chronically underfunding'.

Speaking this week, Mr Hammond said: "Since I've become chancellor I've put nearly £10 billion pounds of additional money into the NHS so the NHS will see a significant uplift in 2018/19 in its funding.

"But we understand the pressures which the NHS is facing because our population is ageing. Older people consume more health care, that is a simple fact.

"As the PM said we are going to look at this, we're going to look at how we can support the NHS in the face of an ageing population and that will be an ongoing process over the course of this year."

The latest A&E figures for February showed the University of Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust have the worst record for seeing emergency patients within four hours, with 75 per cent seen within the time frame.

At Walsall Manor Hospital 77 per cent were seen within the four hours, 80 per cent at both Sandwell and Birmingham NHS Trust's two hospitals and Russells Hall Hospital in Dudley and 86 per cent at New Cross Hospital in Wolverhampton.

Consultant-led hospital bed occupancy rates were above average at the trusts from October to December.

New Cross Hospital, run by the Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust, had an average 94 per cent occupancy rate, 93 per cent at Russells Hall Hospital, run by Dudley Group NHS Trust and 92 per cent at University of Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust, which runs County Hospital in Stafford.

At Sandwell and Birmingham NHS Trust it was 91 per cent and Walsall's Manor Hospital 89 per cent.

UNISON assistant general secretary Christina McAnea said: “The latest data shows just how punishing the winter months are proving for the NHS. Last month was the worst on record. Yet the figures don’t include the added difficulties staff faced when freezing conditions began to hit the UK last week.

“Day in day out, staff go to great lengths to ensure patients are cared for as fast as possible, no matter how cold, wet or snowing it is outside. Without more funding the NHS will go on struggling to meet demand and keep the service safe.

“Seeing sick and injured people having to wait for hours on end to be treated in hospital corridors is not what health professionals signed up for when they joined the NHS.”