DATA shows that one-in-eight ambulance patients waited more than an hour to be handed over to accident and emergency services earlier in December.

This data comes from NHS England as The Royal College of Nursing, a staff body for the profession, warned that the healthcare system is “dangerously close to overheating completely”.

The figures show that, in the week from December 11-December 18, 78 patients waited in an ambulance for at least one hour when they arrived at Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, up from 40 patients the week before.

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A further 79 patients were forced to wait between 30 minutes and one hour, meaning that 26 per cent of the 604 total ambulance arrivals were delayed by half an hour or more, with at least 112 hours lost because of the delays.

NHS targets state that trusts should complete 95 per cent of all ambulance handovers in 30 minutes, with all conducted in less than an hour.

More than 16,300 handover delays an hour or longer were recorded across all hospital trusts during the period, up 31 per cent from 12,500 the week before.

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A handover delay does not always mean that a patient has waited in the ambulance, as they could have been moved into the A&E department but the handover was not completed.

The Royal College of Nursing’s director for England Patricia Marquis said: “The figures suggest that there is absolutely no slack in the system.”

She added that there was a serious lack of bed capacity in the NHS, urging the Government to address pay and vacancies for nurses to improve care.

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Alex Whitfield, chief executive of Hampshire Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, said: “In recent weeks, alongside many other NHS organisations, we have seen record demand for our services and difficulties discharging patients when they are medically fit.

“In spite of incredibly hard work by all of our staff, and additional measures to mitigate the impact on patients, this has meant some people facing very long waits – including for some waiting in ambulances.

“We fully recognise this can be distressing and as such make every effort to people waiting in ambulances.

“We will continue to do all we can to ensure every patient receives the care they need as quickly as possible.”