REDDITCH MP Rachel Maclean has slammed "unacceptable" ambulance delays at Worcestershire Hospital saying Redditch residents are being let down.

Her comments come after reports on social media claim Worcestershire Acute Hospitals Trust, which runs the Royal as well as the Alexandra Hospital, is constantly topping the list for longest ambulance waits outside a hospital in the country, and that ambulances are routinely having to be diverted from the Royal to places as far away as Coventry.

The Advertiser reported last year that ambulances were being told to go to the Alex, as the Worcestershire Royal was struggling to cope.

Redditch MP Rachel Maclean said: "The ambulance delays we're seeing, particularly at Worcestershire Royal, are simply unacceptable.

"Make no mistake, I'm doing all I can to ensure the trust up their game.

"My constituents are being let down and I'll be looking to the trust to address this in 2019."

The MP said that that the trust has a winter Winter Plan in place, with the hope of avoiding an A&E meltdown seen in previous years.

She said that the plan includes an increase in the number of general medical patients in need of urgent care who are taken by ambulance to the Alex rather than Worcestershire Royal.

Also included in the Winter Plan is an £2.4 million cash injection into adult social care in Worcestershire, fractured neck of femur surgery taking place at the Alex, the development of a new inpatient frailty unit at the Alex, and 16 dedicated rehabilitation beds at Evesham Community Hospital.

Mrs Maclean added: "These urgent measures will create additional capacity equivalent to around 55 beds across the trust to ensure the trust can safely manage higher numbers of urgent medical admissions."

Have you been affected by ambulance waits outside the Worcestershire Royal or had to be diverted to another hospital? Let us know by emailing ben.russell@midlands.newsquest.co.uk.