Responding to new Health Foundation analysis of ambulance waiting times and handover delays, the interim deputy chief executive and director of policy and strategy at NHS Providers, Miriam Deakin, said:

"Nobody in the NHS wants people to be kept waiting. With demand shooting up, the pressure on overstretched ambulance and emergency care services is relentless.

"Long waits for ambulances reflect immense strain on the whole health and care system. Pressure on social care and community services means that hospitals struggle to discharge people who're well enough to leave. That has a serious knock-on effect on available beds and admissions, and leaves ambulances waiting to hand over patients to hospitals, delaying them from further calls.

"NHS staff are pulling out all the stops to improve the flow of patients and to ease pressure on ambulance services but we need a national urgent and emergency care strategy that looks at all the pressures on the health and care system beyond hospitals."