How many patients arriving at Northampton General Hospital by ambulance had to wait more than half an hour for handover

Dozens of additional hours were spent in ambulances at Northampton General Hospital in the first week of December, new NHS figures show.

NHS England figures show seven patients waited in an ambulance for at least one hour when they arrived at Northampton General Hospital NHS Trust A&E in the week to Sunday, December 4 – in line with the week before.

A further 142 patients were forced to wait between 30 minutes and one hour, meaning 25 percent of the 599 total ambulance arrivals were delayed by half an hour or more, and at least 34 hours were lost.

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

Across England, more patients waited in an ambulance for more than an hour than at any stage last winter.

Health charity the King’s Fund said the NHS is "bursting at the seams" as it recovers from the pandemic and attempts to meet sharply rising demand, while think tank the Nuffield Trust said it is "painfully visible that ambulance services are under severe strain".

Danielle Jefferies analyst at the King's Fund said: "Problems at the hospital front door are indicative of issues at the back door.

"People are being stranded in hospital because of a long-term lack of investment in social care and NHS community services."

Nationally, 24,000 handovers (31 percent) were delayed by at least 30 minutes last week, while 11,300 (15 percent) had to wait more than one hour.

Both are significantly up on comparable December weeks in 2020 and 2021 and reached higher levels than any week last winter.

Health and Social Care secretary Steve Barclay said the Government is providing £8 billion in funding "to boost performance and recover services to pre-pandemic levels".

Mr Barclay added: "The coming months will be challenging but I am determined to tackle waiting times and improve access for patients.

"We’re allocating an extra £500 million to speed up hospital discharge, getting ambulances back on the road more quickly, increasing the number of NHS call handlers, and creating the equivalent of at least 7,000 more beds."

NGH was contacted, but did not wish to comment.