Nearly quarter of ambulance patients waited more than an hour at Peterborough and Stamford Hospitals last week

Nearly a quarter of ambulance patients waited more than an hour to be handed over to accident and emergency services at Peterborough and Stamford Hospitals last week, new figures show.

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 conduct 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 are concerned strike action and recent cold weather will add to the pressure on stretched ambulance services.

NHS England figures show 165 patients waited in an ambulance for at least one hour when they arrived at North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust A&E in the week to Sunday (December 11) – though this was down from 199 the week before.

A further 202 patients were forced to wait between 30 minutes and one hour, meaning 48% of the 764 total ambulance arrivals were delayed by half an hour or more, and at least 367 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.

Saffron Cordery, chief executive at NHS Providers, said: "Ambulance handover delays have also increased, with over a third being delayed by 30 minutes or more.

"Trust leaders are concerned that unfolding strike action and the extremely cold weather will add even more pressure to overstretched services."

North West Anglia NHS Foundation Trust has been approached for comment.