Almost half of ambulances serving Sandwell residents are taking more than 30 minutes to offload patients, despite improvements in waiting times, latest figures show.

The percentage of ambulances waiting more than 30 minutes last month was 43.4 per cent, performance data released by the Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust shows.

The figure for January represents an improvement on that for December, where 44.1 per cent of patients were left waiting more than 30 minutes.

But it remains worse than the West Midland average of 34.5 per cent.

The trust, which runs Sandwell, City and Rowley Regis Hospitals, has released the figures in its monthly performance and monitoring report.

There were 115 recorded cases of ambulance turnarounds taking more than an hour, the monthly report also reveals.

This figure is also an improvement on the previous month, in which there were 146 recorded instances, although the report states that this improvement was “influenced entirely by reduction in delays at City Hospital”.

Trust spokeswoman Jeanette Lunt said: “The figures relate to the length of time it takes for an ambulance crew to be able to leave.

“Patients are brought into the hospital but when we are really busy the ambulance crew stay with patients while our staff deal with the most serious patients.

“All patients are assessed straight away and those needing urgent care from our doctors and nurses are given priority, even if they have not arrived by ambulance.

“We do our best to ensure the ambulances can leave the hospital as soon as possible.”

The report also showed that the trust has seen improvements in other areas including the overall percentage and number of cancelled operations.

The overall percentage and number of cancelled operations decreased to 0.5 per cent overall during January.