MORE than 770 hours were wasted by ambulances waiting to offload patients at Staffordshire A&E units.

Crews are given a target of half an hour to drop off patients.

But figures from the West Midlands Ambulance Service show in the first nine months of the year, ambulances sat outside the University Hospital of North Staffordshire's unit for a total of 350 hours above the guideline – the equivalent of 14 and a half days.

The figures, obtained by a Sentinel Freedom of Information request, reveal the wait at Stafford Hospital was 427 hours over the same period.

In 2010, the lost time amounted to 256 hours at the Hartshill unit and 400 at Stafford and in 2009, it was just 193 and 194 hours respectively.

The University Hospital brings in 42 per cent of its 100,000-plus annual patients by ambulance.

It had its worst month in June when 63.5 hours ticked by as ambulances stood outside the Princes Road unit instead of being on emergency calls.

Meanwhile, in January alone, 101 hours were wasted at Stafford.

In February 2009, the University Hospital recorded its lowest figure of a little more than eight hours.

The hospital says it still has one of the best records for releasing ambulances from A&E.

However, union leaders say the hold-ups are so bad they are causing rows between crews and A&E staff.

They accused the hospital's workers of sometimes delaying the admittance of patients to have a better chance of meeting their own Government targets on speed of treatment.

West Midlands Ambulance Service blamed the rise in ambulance waits on increasing demands.

A spokesman said: "Unfortunately delays do occur at both hospitals at times of peak demand, meaning we have fewer ambulances to send to other 999 calls.

"We hold regular meetings with both hospitals to try to improve the systems."

The service recently introduced liaison officers to work with bed managers so capacity can be found for patients to be handed over quicker.

There are also systems to allow staff to see the number of ambulances and types of patients en-route in a bid to make planning easier.

Magnus Harrison, pictured left, lead consultant at the University Hospital's A&E, said: "We are consistently one of, if not the best performing A&E units in the West Midlands for ambulance turnaround times.

"In November alone we received 2,700 ambulances, and the average turnaround time was 24 minutes."

Ray Salmon, Unison health union regional secretary, said: "The delays create tension between hospital staff and crews.

"They suspect some staff do not accept patients immediately to delay starting the clock measuring the target of treating patients within four hours."

The figures do not cover this month, which has seen Stafford's A&E implement a night-time closure, meaning ambulances are diverted to Stoke-on-Trent or Wolverhampton.