The Red Cross has a history of helping the NHS in times of need, for instance by transporting patients home from hospital.

The NHS Digital report showed there were 20.5m attendances recorded at A&E in England during 2015/16 with Monday the most popular day to attend.

"Nationally, our emergency departments are still maintaining a high level of performance and Scotland's A&E waiting times have consistently outperformed other areas of the United Kingdom for at least the past 20 months - the latest comparable published data shows that Scotland's core performance was 93.1% compared to 83.7% in England and 77.9% in Wales in October".

Around 30% of people showing up to emergency departments shouldn't be there, he said, and they should be directed elsewhere.

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has caused an uproar by appearing to say the four hour A&E target doesn't always apply. Most hospitals have not hit the target nationally since summer 2015.

In 2014, Mr Hunt took his own children to A&E because he did not want to wait to see a GP. Mr Hunt said: "It is clear that we need to have an honest discussion with the public about the goal of A&E departments".

But Chris Moulton, vice president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, said there were many valid cases among the 37% of people discharged with no follow-up.

"It is testament to our fantastic staff that even at our busiest times we have not closed our doors and indeed on average eight out of 10 patients are treated and discharged or admitted within four hours of arrival at the emergency department".

The NAO's findings have prompted the British Medical Association to claim the Government's plans to extend patients' access to GP services are in "complete disarray".

Backers include Dr Sarah Wollaston, the highly respected Conservative who chairs the Commons health select committee; three other select committee chairs; the ex-Tory health minister Dr Dan Poulter; Alan Milburn, the health secretary under Tony Blair in 1999-2003; and Stephen Dorrell, his Tory predecessor in 1995-97.

Funding the extended hours commitment will require at least £230 per appointment hour for every 1,000 registered patients, compared with £154 during normal opening hours, said the watchdog.

This follows an NHS England pilot of an "enhanced health in care homes" enhanced service which requires Global Positioning System to do weekly ward rounds in care homes, which GP leaders said would stretch available Global Positioning System too thinly.

"One of the main reasons that crisis services are so overstretched is that young people who are struggling don't get help soon enough, which means that problems often escalate".