The BEN has been flooded by callers ringing in to reveal their own hospital horror stories.

Many simply wanted to let off steam after having operations cancelled.

One man was waiting for his FOURTH operation date.

He admitted that the operation, to remove cartilage from his nose, was minor. But he added that the stress of constantly rearranging his work schedule and organising his family, was difficult to handle.

Another man described how his non-urgent operation was cancelled just hours before he was to go for surgery. He now takes constant medication and is feeling run down and ill as he waits for a new date from hospital administrators.

As reported in the BEN on Tuesday, there are 5,064 patients waiting for admission with 76 waiting more than 12 months because of spiralling cancellations following a rise in emergency admissions and staff shortages.

And there have been many people ringing the BEN with stories about waiting on trolleys in hospital corridors -- many are poorly pensioners such as Amelia Diggle.

Mrs Diggle suffered a mini-stroke and was kept waiting nine hours on a hospital trolley in the A&E department at the Royal Bolton Hospital last week.

The 81-year-old from Bolton, who said she was left feeling desperately ill with people constantly walking past her trolley, described the hospital crisis as "terrible".

Mrs Diggle said: "There were other people waiting on trolleys around me. Some waited longer than me.

"They shouldn't have shut the Bolton Royal Infirmary. I hate the hospital at Minerva Road because it can't deal with emergencies."

The pensioner said that when she did get finally get a bed it was in the orthopaedic ward instead of a medical ward.

A spokesman for the Royal Bolton Hospital apologised to patients for the "very high demand for beds".

"We appreciate that it can be very distressing for patients who are waiting for surgery to have their operations postponed.

"We are also acutely aware of the anxiety caused to patients and their families if they arrive as an emergency and have to wait some time before a bed is available.

"We apologise to people who are in these situations.

"We are doing everything that we can to find solutions to these problems as quickly as possible."