Nearly 17,000 people in a week faced ambulance delays

Record numbers of patients were forced to wait in the back of ambulances over the Christmas period as hospitals in England struggled to cope with demand.

16,900 people were stuck in the back of an ambulance waiting to enter an A&E unit to be assessed and treated in the week from Christmas Day to New Year’s Eve.

Of those, 4,700 had to endure a delay of at least an hour, according to NHS England’s latest figures, on how the service is performing under the extra pressure that winter brings.

Hospitals in England also set another record recently with A&E units forced to divert patients elsewhere, because they could not cope - a total of 39 times.

Bed occupancy also rose to worryingly high level during Christmas. 91.7 per cent of general and acute hospital beds were full one week - up from 90.9 per cent the week before and well above the 85 per cent limit hospitals are meant to stick to.

The seven days to 31 December also saw the largest number of calls ever in a week to the NHS 111 telephone advice service. 480,400 people rang seeking help - 21 per cent more than in the previous week.

Vince Cable, the Liberal Democrat leader, said: “These figures show the NHS crisis is worsening, with thousands of patients being stuck in ambulances outside A&Es and hospitals suffering from a severe lack of beds.

“Every day seems to bring yet more bad news about the state of the health service. The blame lies firmly at the government’s door. Ministers refused to provide the funding top NHS officials said was necessary and now patients are paying the price.”