The Government has rejected Labour's calls for an emergency summit to discuss ways of easing the growing pressure on accident and emergency (A&E) departments.
Shadow health secretary Andy Burnham had called for health, social care, council and emergency services to meet after the worst A&E admissions figures in a decade.
More than a dozen hospitals including Addenbrooke's in Cambridge have declared major incidents because of a surge in demand.
The Fire Brigades' Union (FBU) has also raised concerns about the knock-on effect, saying vehicles have been pressed into service as makeshift ambulances.
But a Department of Health spokeswoman said: "The Secretary of State (Jeremy Hunt) has been holding weekly meetings about A&E pressures since March last year.
"Alongside colleagues across government and the NHS nationally, we continue to work with the local NHS to help support them through the winter."
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Prime Minster David Cameron has admitted the NHS is under pressure following the release of figures showing waiting times at A&E in England have hit their worst level in 10 years.
However,the dismissed claims the service is on the brink of disaster.
Mr Burnham has published a letter accusing Mr Hunt of failing to anticipate the current problems.
Reports of fire engines and police cars being increasingly used as ambulances raised "major patient and public safety concerns", he wrote.
Mr Burnham said any summit needed to include representatives from the police, fire and ambulance services as well as NHS professionals.
The latest figures on A&E waiting times showed just 92.6% of patients were treated within the four-hour time limit against a target of 95%
The figure is much worse in Wales, where Labour is in charge, but Mr Burnham told Sky News statistics are not the most important thing.
He said: "What really matters is that there are thousands of people today waiting on a trolley in hospital corridors, held in the back of ambulances outside A&E, people who cannot get the care they need in a very serious situation.
"The emergency services are not functioning as they should be. That's a serious issue. It requires urgent action and constructive suggestions."
The British Medical Association says there are now "unprecedented levels of pressure" on the health service, while the Royal College of Nursing said the system was in "crisis".
Mr Cameron and Labour leader Ed Miliband clashed over the issue at Prime Minister's questions.
Mr Miliband accused Mr Cameron of "blaming the patients" for the pressure on A&E departments and claimed he was "in denial" about the state of the NHS.
Mr Cameron in turn accused Mr Miliband of "weaponising" the health service in a "disgusting" attempt to make political capital from its difficulties.
The hospitals that have declared major incidents are:
:: The Royal Bolton Hospital
:: Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge
:: Scarborough Hospital In Yorkshire
:: Royal Stoke University Hospital
:: Peterborough City in Cambridgeshire
:: Gloucestershire Royal Hospital
:: Cheltenham General Hospitals
:: Walsall Manor in the West Midlands
:: Croydon Hospital in south London
:: Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals
:: Ashford and St Peter's hospitals in Surrey
:: Stafford's County Hospital
:: Leicester General, Glenfield and Leicester Royal hospitals
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