Ambulances are wasting hundreds of hours queuing up outside A&E as they fail to meet targets for handing over patients.

Trusts that run ambulance services are given a target of 15 minutes to hand over patients at A&E.

But ambulances stopping at Macclesfield are consistently waiting longer than this - with paramedics sitting outside the ER for the equivalent of a week last year.

Data from a Freedom of Information request shows the last financial year (2015/16) ambulances spent an average of 16 minutes outside the unit, 209 hours over and above the standard 15 minute handover period waiting to transfer patients to Macclesfield A&E.

This is almost 50percent more than two years previously (2013/14), when 141 hours were lost due to handover delays over 15 minutes.

However, it is a decrease of 37 hours from 2014/15, when ambulances waited an extra 246 hours due to handover delays.

MP David Rutley is writing to health bosses after seeing the data from the Express.

He said: “This is the first time I’ve seen the performance data and I will be writing to the chief executives of the hospital trust and ambulance service to find out what’s causing the delays and what action is being taken. It’s vital patients get the best possible care particularly as we come to the challenging winter period.”

North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) said demand is rising.

A spokesman said: “Each year we are seeing more and more people in need of our services, especially for Red incidents for patients with serious and life-threatening conditions. During busy periods this can result in ambulance crews having to wait longer to handover patients before they can be clear to respond to other emergencies.

“We always strive to get to patients as quickly as possible and are actively recruiting more frontline staff, have invested in additional ambulance resources and will continue to work closely with all of our NHS colleagues to address this issue.

“We urge the public to support us by only dialling 999 for life-threatening and potentially life-threatening incidents and consider alternative care such as minor injury units, walk-in centres, NHS 111, their GP or pharmacy.”

An East Cheshire NHS Trust spokesperson said they are working to address the increase.

He said: “As with most other local health economies we have experienced increased demand on our Accident and Emergency Department. Currently, around 4,500 people attend Macclesfield Hospital’s A&E each month and this represents an increase of 6pc year-on-year. At particularly busy times, some patients may wait longer to be transferred than we would like but the most urgent cases will always be prioritised on the basis of clinical need.”