AMBULANCE waiting times outside the Countess of Chester Hospital were the worst they had been this winter on New Year's Day, latest NHS figures have revealed.

Previously we reported on queues of ambulances outside the hospital during the Christmas and New Year period, with patients waiting long times for treatment, amid calls from the hospital to use A&E for emergency care only.

Now figures released by NHS England on Friday, January 6 have shown that 19 patients who arrived at the Countess of Chester Hospital were collectively delayed by 49 hours while they waited to be admitted on New Year's Day.

The data showed that 33 patients were admitted to the hospital that day by ambulance. Of those, three were delayed between 30 and 60 minutes, while 16 had to wait more than an hour. The number of hours lost to ambulance handover delays – 49, the highest recorded since NHS England began monitoring delays this winter since November 14, 2022 – does not count the first 30 minutes of waiting.

That means those 16 patients identified as waiting for more than hour were actually waiting an average of about three hours each to be admitted to the hospital.

By contrast, on December 1-3, 2022, no patients arriving by ambulance waited longer than one hour to be admitted.

In the hospital on New Year's Day, there were 459 General and Acute beds occupied by patients. Of those, 449 were adult beds and 10 were paediatric beds. Of these, three patients were diagnosed with the flu.

A total of 31 beds were occupied by patients with Covid.

Nine adult critical care beds were occupied, and seven babies were being treated in the neonatal unit critical care area.

The strain on the NHS comes amid near-record demand for the NHS 11 number, with the helpline receiving the second highest number of calls ever in a week nationally at 410,618.

The NHS says it planned extensively for winter, recruiting hundreds of extra 111 and 999 call handlers and establishing around the clock system control centres in every area to manage demand as effectively as possible.

Dozens of acute respiratory infection hubs and community falls response services have also been established to ease pressure on accident and emergency departments.

England’s top doctor is also calling for eligible groups to get vaccinated saying it’s not too late to get a vaccine, with over 375,000 vaccine appointments available nationally next week.

NHS national medical director, Professor Sir Stephen Powis, said: “We knew this winter would be one of the most difficult in the history of the NHS and I want to thank staff for all their hard work in caring for and treating so many patients while dealing with record demand on services, including the enormous pressure from flu and Covid.

“The plans we announced last autumn will help ensure we are in the best place possible to provide care for patients at this incredibly challenging time, with extra call handlers in place, community services established to help keep people out of hospital where possible and we’re also continuing to make good progress to put the equivalent of 7,000 extra beds in place by March.

“It remains vital that people make the most of services like 111 online and as ever, only use 999 in an emergency, and it’s also crucial that those who are eligible come forward for flu and Covid vaccines as soon as possible.”