More than a fifth of ambulance patients made to wait outside hospitals for half-an-hour or more

Across England, one in six patients waited more than an hour, while one in three were left waiting more than 30 minutes – both record highs.

The figures cover the week before nurses carried out their first nationwide strike in England, Wales and Northern Ireland this week – the largest action in NHS history, with the organisation saying it is doing all it can to minimise disruption.

Membership organisation NHS Providers said NHS trust leaders were concerned strike action and recent cold weather will add to the pressure on already stretched ambulance services.

NHS England figures show 47 patients waited in an ambulance for at least one hour when they arrived at Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust A&E in the week to Sunday (December 11) – up from 10 the week before.

A further 80 patients were forced to wait between 30 minutes and one hour, meaning 21% of the 594 total ambulance arrivals were delayed by half-an-hour or more, and at least 62 hours were lost.

NHS targets state trusts should complete 95% of all ambulance handovers in 30 minutes, with all conducted in less than one hour.

Around 25,000 handover delays of half-an-hour or longer were recorded across all hospital trusts last week, according to NHS England.

It meant a record 34% of all arrivals by ambulance were postponed by more than 30 minutes – up from 31% the previous week.

Meanwhile, 12,500 patients (17%) had to wait more than an hour to be handed over, also a record.

A handover delay does not always mean a patient has waited in the ambulance as they could have been moved into an A&E department, but the handover was not completed.

Deputy chief operating officer Victoria Court, of North East Ambulance Service, said: "Hospital handover delays are a symptom of the wider pressure on the NHS and the demand reflects the national picture, not just in the North East.

"We understand that delays cause a risk of harm to our patients and they're having an impact on our staff, which isn't the situation we want to be in.

"As we enter our busiest time of the year, we are working with our partners to look at ways to mitigate those pressures.

"Patient safety remains our top priority and we have put a number of plans in place to help this, including a trial between Northumbria Specialist Emergency Care Hospital and our dispatch team to direct patients to appropriate alternative care other than the emergency department."

A spokesperson from Northumbria Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust said: “The whole healthcare system is under significant pressure and currently seeing increasing demand.

"We all want patients to receive care as quickly as possible and our teams are working very hard to prioritise patients as required and to deliver this care.”

Saffron Cordery, interim chief executive at NHS Providers, said: "The Chancellor's commitment to publishing a long-term workforce plan in 2023 is welcome, but this must be backed by appropriate funding for implementation."