Ambulance crews are struggling to check patients into an overwhelmed West Yorkshire A&E which is earmarked to be downgraded.

And the situation is much worse at a hospital where Kirklees patients will be sent following the downgrade.

At Dewsbury District Hospital between December 2014 and November 2016, there were 810 occasions when it took between 30 minutes and an hour for ambulance crews to hand over their patient to A&E staff.

And there were 132 ‘black breaches’ where patients waited more than an hour, according to figures obtained under Freedom of Information.

Ambulance crews are expected to hand patients over to A&E staff within 30 minutes.

But overwhelmed A&Es now often have queues of paramedics and their patients waiting in corridors.

The A&E at Dewsbury is due to be downgraded to an urgent care centre while emergency care is centralised at Pinderfields Hospital, Wakefield.

Pinderfields Hospital in Wakefield

But according to the figures, the situation at Pinderfields has been considerably worse.

Between December 2014 and November 2016, there was a whopping 7,459 patients waiting 30 minutes to an hour.

And they were 2,160 black breaches.

Dewsbury MP Paula Sherriff said she was ‘incredibly concerned’ about plan.

The Labour member said: “I have been told by Yorkshire Ambulance Service employees that Pinderfields is regarded as the worst hospital in the area for handover.

“Given that Pinderfields cannot cope at the present time I am incredibly concerned about these plans and their impact on patient safety.

“I have asked Jeremy Hunt to step in and suspend the needless downgrades of both Dewsbury and Huddersfield Royal Infirmary as I firmly believe that if these plans are implemented they will cost lives.”

Batley and Spen Labour MP Tracy Brabin added: “My constituents are deeply concerned about this downgrade and these statistics raise yet more questions about Pinderfields’ capacity to cope with the extra demand.”

Tracy Brabin at PMQs Wednesday January 11, 2017

Erika McGinnes, assistant deputy director of operations at Mid Yorkshire Hospitals Trust, which runs Dewsbury and Pinderfields, said: “Between December 2014 and November 2016, MYHT saw a total of 91,112 ambulances attending our sites. Of these, only 9% of crews were delayed between 30 and 60 minutes and 2% over 60 minutes.

“Much work has been undertaken to streamline the handover process including the introduction of an initial assessment team with dedicated staff and cubicle space, and a self-handover process which the ambulance service can use if it is safe and appropriate to do so.”