Hundreds of patients left waiting for hours in ambulances at Wigan A&E

Unison said delays risk the safety of patients and are “a terrible waste” of ambulance crews’ skills.

Ambulances took 4,644 patients to the borough’s casualty department between December 3 and February 3, according to NHS Digital data.

One in 10 people - 405 in all - waited for more than an hour before A&E staff were able to take over from paramedics.

A further 685 arrivals waited between 30 and 60 minutes before they were admitted.

Despite the NHS saying a delay of just 15 minutes is a potential threat to life, 21 patients waited more than an hour in a single day when the backlog was at its most severe.

The overall number of delays at the Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Trust (WWL) has dropped slightly since 2017-18. Over the same period last winter, 1,220 patients waited in ambulances for 30 minutes or more, 11 per cent more than this year.

Colm Porter, Unison’s national ambulance officer, said: “Handover delays are a stark illustration of the extreme pressure on the NHS caused by years of chronic underfunding.

“Not only are patients put at risk with lengthy waits to get into A&E, but there are also fewer ambulances available to respond to emergencies.”

A WWL spokeswoman said: “Ambulance transfer times at the Royal Albert Edward Infirmary’s A&E Department have fallen 11 per cent between December 3, 2018 and February 3, 2019 from the same time period in the previous years.

This is testament to the hard work and dedication between WWL’s staff and our colleagues at North West Ambulance Service.

“Part of the reason for the long waiting times was due to the bed closures that had to occur due to infectious disease outbreaks.

These closures restricted the number of beds available for admissions and prevented discharge for patients whose care in the hospital was complete, but were unable to return to their nursing or residential home due to outbreaks in the hospital and community.

“The infection outbreaks also affected staffing levels within the hospital.

“As well as bed closures, January saw an eight per cent increase in attendances to A&E, when compared with December, and a 16 per cent increase when compared with January the previous year.

We would like to remind people across the Wigan borough to please remember that, should you be suffering with any minor injuries or ailments, to please consider your pharmacist, GP or walk in centre. NHS 111 is also available on the phone and online at www.111.nhs.uk

A spokesperson for NWAS added: “Improving hospital handover times is a top priority for us and we have been working hard alongside our colleagues at local hospital trusts to put in place a number of important initiatives to do this.

“A dedicated hospital handover improvement programme has been set up with representatives from six hospitals in the North West including Wigan Infirmary who meet regularly to share best practice and implement new ways of working.

“The aim is to reduce the total average hospital handover times so that ambulance crews can be freed up quicker to respond to further emergencies and make sure that our patients get the best possible care.

“We have already seen improvements as a result of new initiatives and are confident that moving forward, this will continue over the coming months.

“As always, the public can assist by only calling 999 in emergencies and considering other healthcare providers such as GPs and pharmacies if their condition is not serious.”