1 in 4 ambulance patients waiting more than half an hour outside A&E in Morecambe Bay

Cumbrian MP Tim Farron has accused the Government of "failing patients on a monstrous scale" after it was revealed that more than one in four ambulance patients waiting over half an hour outside A&E in Lancaster and Barrow.

Figures published today by NHS England show that 26% of all patients arriving by ambulance from Monday 5th to Sunday 11th December waited for more than 30 minutes to be handed over to A&E: 125 out of 481.

Meanwhile 51 patients - which equates to more than one in 10 - were waiting for more than an hour.

Handover delays cost ambulances across Morecambe Bay a total of 95 hours last week.

In North Cumbria the picture is even more stark, with 35% of all patients arriving by ambulance waiting for more than 30 minutes to be handed over to A&E: 186 out of 529.

Tim said: "The Government are failing patients on a monstrous scale, with many spending tens of hours stuck in an ambulance outside a hospital.

"That's tens of hours with paramedics out-of-action, unable to respond to emergencies - a big part of the reason that so many people wait hours for an ambulance after calling 999.

"The Conservatives have driven our health and social care services into the ground for years, and this is the result.

"The Liberal Democrats have put forward a clear plan to tackle these shocking delays and stop our NHS slipping from crisis into catastrophe this winter. The Government must act now to tackle workforce shortages, fix the social care crisis and end the shortage of hospital beds."