Paramedics miss tens of thousands of urgent 999 calls every month while waiting outside packed A&Es, figures indicate

Paramedics are unable to respond to 100,000 urgent 999 calls every month because they are stuck outside hospitals waiting to hand over patients, figures suggest.

Health charities warn the delays are endangering thousands of lives, with heart attack and stroke victims among those left waiting too long for crews to arrive.

National guidance says patients arriving at A&E by ambulance should be passed in to the care of hospital staff within 15 minutes.

But NHS England data shows more than four in ten (42.2 per cent) such arrivals last week waited at least 30 minutes – the highest figure so far this winter.

There were 1,313,218 lost job cycles in the past year as a direct result of ambulance handover delays, according to an analysis of NHS data by the Guardian and the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives (AACE).

Doctors said the figures – equivalent to 3,500 a day – are ‘jaw-dropping’ and called on ministers to take immediate action to tackle the problem.

Anna Parry, managing director of AACE, which represents the bosses of England’s 10 regional NHS ambulance services, warned: ‘Lost job cycles have a profound impact on the resources available to local ambulance services.’

The ‘most detrimental impact’ is on 999 patients with life-threatening conditions ‘who need us most’, she added.The crisis is being caused by soaring demand for emergency care, staff shortages and a lack of social care beds.

This means hospitals cannot discharge patients who are medically fit to leave, so struggle to find space for new arrivals waiting in ambulances outside.

Dr Sonya Babu-Narayan, clinical director at the British Heart Foundation, said: ‘This inevitably has a knock-on effect where ambulance staff caring for patients at the hospital cannot go out to the next call.

‘This desperate situation becomes all the more pressing as the NHS grapples with the huge challenges it faces this winter.’

Every minute that passes when someone has had a heart attack or stroke risked further harm and even death, she added.

She said: ‘No patient and their family should have to endure dramatic delays, and it’s a tragedy to see this happening on such a large scale.’

There have been reports of ambulances queuing 18 deep outside hospital, some crews waiting eight hours to drop-off a single patient, and pensioners left all night on the floor at home waiting for an ambulance after suffering a fall.

NHS England said handover delays had improved before winter, but accepted there was ‘clearly much more still to do’ to reduce ‘unacceptably long waits for patients’ in some parts of the country.It is ‘prioritising the sickest patients’, a spokesperson added.