More than 200 patients had to wait on trolleys for more than 12 hours before being given a bed at Royal Bolton Hospital.

And 309 patients had to wait an hour or more to be handed over to the hospital by paramedics.

This is according to the most recent performance report published by Bolton Clinical Commissioning Group, which showed 273 people had to wait on trolleys over the course of April, an increase on the month before when just 182 people had to wait that time.

The CCG report said: "12-hour trolley waits also increased further in April 2022, with 273 recorded within the calendar month.

"Declining performance in these areas was discussed in more detail with divisional colleagues at the Urgent and Emergency Care Board.

"Contributing factors challenging performance include, reduced and delayed patient flow in to, through, and out of the hospital.

"The Bolton system is working hard to improve patient flow and to ensure timely discharges for patients."  

The factors that made things difficult for the staff on the frontline included the delya in moving  patients into and out of the hospital.

This has made it much harder for staff to free up beds in time for incoming patients.

The board at the CCG have pledged to examine how this has come about in more detail alongside their colleagues at the Urgent and Emergency Care Board.

In response, the report has noted that healthcare workers have been working hard to improve patient flow and to make sure that people are discharged in time.

The report noted that in April 289 patients brought in by ambulance waited more than half an hour for handovers, which was down slightly from 297 in March, but there were 309 patients who had to wait over 60 minute for handovers in April -  269 above the agreed local target of below 40 per month.

The report stated: “Handover delays remain a significant concern and ongoing tests of change in conjunction with colleagues in Wigan, including the rapid checklist, fit to sit and ongoing review of the appropriateness of routine corridor nursing, have so far been ineffective in reducing the number of delays seen.”