A mum who has had to use A&E three times in the last few months said she has spent more than 150 hours waiting for treatment.
The state of the NHS has been bared open by Hannah Price after she needed urgent medical care in the last few months.
Recalling when her daughter Penelope first fell ill just two weeks after she was born, Hannah said she burst into tears when she arrived at Manchester Children's Hospital.
The 30-year-old from Chorlton, said there were more than 50 sickly children waiting for help.
She told the Manchester Evening News : "It was absolutely rammed.
"There was more than 50 children, all of them looking horrifically ill.
"People were lining the corridors and lying on the floor.
"I had to wait [in a queue] for thirty minutes just to talk to the receptionist."
Hannah and Penelope endured a 14-hour wait until the tot, who was suffering severe jaundice, was allocated a neonatal bed.
And even then, they had to stay in the cramped assessment unit, rather than a ward.
Hannah has praised hospital staff for the "exceptional care" they have provided but said she was shocked to witness how much pressure they are under and the NHS.
She said: "I was still recovering from the birth so I was in a lot of pain.
"During the wait we only had a car seat because the midwives had told us to go to A&E straight away.
"I was just putting her down and picking her back up again all the time.
"I was breastfeeding but there was no food to feed myself.
"I couldn't leave with her in case we got called."
Hannah's husband Oliver was them, but he eventually had to leave to look after the couple's other two children aged four and 13.
"When we finally got the incubator I texted him and he replied 'Oh my God that was a fourteen-hour wait'," said Hannah.
"It was absolutely mad."
Penelope has since recovered from her episode of jaundice and received fantastic care at Manchester Children's hospital.
The same was true when Hannah gave birth at St Mary's and when she had to visit Wythenshawe A&E two weekends ago when Penelope has suspected had sepsis .
But again, both visits involved substantial waits for a bed.
In September, Hannah was admitted to the maternity unit at St Mary's to be induced, but it was a further six days before a bed could be found on the labour ward where she gave birth to Penelope.
She said: "They wouldn't let me go home so my husband had to go off for a week to look after the children.
"He had to use his paternity leave early while I waited in the hospital.
"I was under consultant-led care and I was surprised I had to wait so long.
"When I got a bed, everything went fine, I couldn't fault the staff.
"But they're just so pushed, it was so busy all the time.
"It's such a big hospital and I feel like they've not got enough staff to deal with it."
After Hannah's two previous experiences she decided to go to Wythenshawe hospital when Penelope suffered another health scare a fortnight ago.
"She had a temperature of 39, initially I called 111 and they told me to get a doctor's appointment," said Hannah.
"But then her arms suddenly went really cold and mottled.
"I rang 111 again and they said that could be sepsis and it's emergency so you have to go straight to A&E.
"I thought it would be a bit quieter at Wythenshawe but we ended up waiting for six hours.
"I thought with it being suspected sepsis they would admit her straight away.
"Luckily it wasn't sepsis, it was a viral infection.
"They treated her with with fluids and antibiotics and she was was in hospital for three days."
Once again, Hannah says she received exceptional care at Wythenshawe, but believes her experience highlights the strain the NHS is under.
"The staff are absolutely brilliant," she said.
"I spoke to a nurse who said her own daughter was ill but she said she couldn't afford to take time off.
"It's just such a shame they can't see everyone as quickly as they should do.
"Everyone who goes to A&E will say the same thing - we can't pretend it's not happening."
A spokesperson at Manchester University NHS Foundation Trust said: “We are really sorry that Hannah and Penelope have had to wait to be treated on a number of occasions over the recent months.
"Our staff are working really hard to support patients and families during an exceptionally busy time and are working tirelessly to provide the best possible care under extreme pressures.
“We recognise that we were not able to deliver our usual high standards of care in a timely manner and offer our sincere apologies to Hannah and her family. We would be very happy to discuss this further with Hannah.”
Hannah's experience adds to a catalogue of other shameful waiting times others have endure at A&E units across the country.
Earlier this week a mum-of-two said she was reduced to tears and pleaded with nurses for a doctor to see her three-week-old baby who waited 11 hours for a hospital bed.
Kertu Babik said her daughter Blanka was eventually diagnosed with bronchiolitis and spent a week recovering at Leeds General Infirmary.
She spoke out after it emerged that a four-year-old boy with suspected pneumonia was forced to sleep on a cold floor for more than four hours because of a shortage of beds at the same hospital.
Jack's desperate mum Sarah Williment covered her son in coats in a bid to keep him warm and comfortable.
Poorly nine-month-old Lily Noden had to wait six hours for a bed at Countess of Chester Hospital near the family's home in Ellesmere Port.
The tot's health had deteriorated following weeks of illness so mum Louise Webb and dad Thomas Noden rushed her to A&E.
Miss Webb said: "There's something really wrong with the government to let the NHS get like this."
