Hospital waiting times in Worcester were over six hours on Monday morning.

At 9.30am waiting times at Worcestershire Royal Hospital A&E were up to six hours and six minutes.

By midday this time had reduced but was still around the three-hour mark.

Matthew Hopkins, chief executive of Worcestershire Acute Hospitals NHS Trust, said: “Our Emergency Departments are very busy now, with patient numbers well above what we were seeing in July two years ago.

“Caring for so many people while also making sure that we protect our patients and staff from the risk of Covid-19 infection is a significant challenge, but one that our dedicated staff are rising to.

“Teams across our two Emergency Departments, GP surgeries, community nursing and social care have been working incredibly hard to ensure patients receive appropriate and safe care throughout one of the most challenging periods in the history of the NHS.”

Statistics released showed that in June, 78% of arrivals at Worcestershire Acute Hospitals were seen within four hours, the NHS target is 95%.

In June 18,593 patients visited A&E at Worcestershire Acute Hospitals, 21 of whom had to wait over 12 hours for treatment.

This is an increase of 43% compared to June 2020 when the figure was 13,009 and is even an increase on statistics from before the pandemic, in June 2019 the number was 17,022.

Across England, A&E departments received 2.2 million visits last month, 53% more than in the same period the previous year when the figure was 1.4 million.

Meanwhile ambulance services have never been busier.

West Midlands Ambulance Service was recently awarded over £5million to cope with the recent surge.

On Monday July 12 WMAS received a record 6,406 calls, 600 more than the previous record set just a week before.

In the month building up to July 14 WMAS recorded 19 of its 20 busiest days ever.