Almost 500 patients were left waiting in A&E for more than 12 hours at Nottingham hospitals, according to the latest NHS figures. Statistics show 617 patients were left waiting half a day for a ward bed in total across Nottinghamshire in June - compared to just three in June last year.
The figures were released after all ten ambulance services put themselves on the highest alert level, saying they're struggling to effectively meet demand. This is due to a combination of Covid absences among staff, difficulty caused by the hot weather and ongoing delays in handing over patients to A&E.
In June, 90 per cent of urgent calls to East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS) were arriving within nine hours and 18 minutes - well over the target of two hours. The average response time for the most serious cases was almost ten minutes - the target is seven minutes.
Read more: Extreme pressure on health care as EMAS on 'black alert' and hospitals 'very busy'
At Nottingham University Hospitals (NUH), the trust that runs Queen's Medical Centre and City Hospital, 490 patients waited for more than 12 hours in the emergency department. 1,360 waited over four hours.
At Sherwood Forest Hospitals, which runs King's Mill, Newark and Mansfield Community Hospitals, 22.4% of people arriving in A&E waited more than four hours before being admitted, discharged or transferred. 127 patients waited over 12 hours for a bed.
Across England, in June, 22,034 people across England waited more than 12 hours in A&E to be admitted to a ward bed, after a decision to admit them was taken, according to figures from NHS England. That was up from 19,053 in May.
It was also the third highest number since records began in August 2010. More than a quarter (27.9%) of patients arriving in A&E are waiting more than four hours before being admitted, discharged or transferred.
