England's care watchdog warned today that one in six NHS hospitals don't have enough staff to cope.
A quarter of nursing homes also didn't meet the Care Quality Commission's staff standards, according to its new State of Care report.
Medical experts warned that things are just going to get worse as Britain's population ages and the coalition's cuts bite.
Royal College of Nursing general secretary Dr Peter Carter said the report just backed up the union's own long-running demand for the government to hire and train more nurses.
"Not enough hospitals, nursing and care homes are adequately staffed."
Combining this with "the wrong mix of skills" is badly hurting patient care, Dr Carter said.
"We hope that this report acts as a warning that cutting staff at a time when the country's health care needs are becoming more complex is a recipe for disaster."
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