More than 600 people waiting for ambulances and 100 patients stuck outside hospitals in North West

There were more than 600 patients waiting for ambulances across the North West at 5pm on Monday, while 100 emergency vehicles were outside hospitals waiting to handover patients.

North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) said a “combination of factors” had led to the problem, including severe weather and hospital handover delays.

It put all clinically trained staff on the responding frontline, more private providers were used and work was done with healthcare partners to guide non-urgent cases to other services.

Director of operations Ged Blezard said: “Please only call 999 if someone has a serious illness or injury, you think their life is at risk and you cannot get them to hospital by any other means.

“We know there are patients waiting for our help and we are sorry that we are unable to respond as quickly as we would like. Please be assured that we will get to you as soon as we can.

“The public can help us by only calling 999 for life-threatening emergencies. We cannot stress enough that our ambulance crews are reserved for the most life-threatening cases and these incidents will be prioritised.

“Please do not call 999 to check on ambulance arrival times, we cannot answer this question, and this blocks the line for other calls trying to get through.

“For all other health concerns, it is likely we will direct you to alternative services, so please help us by first checking your symptoms at 111.nhs.uk and call on friends or relatives for transport if necessary.”