Ambulances wait more than an hour to enter New Cross Hospital's A&E

The NHS Trust which runs the hospital has been fined more than £60,000 as a result - although a health chief labelled the fines 'a waste of public money'.

The Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust was hit with a total bill of £66,200 for its ambulance waiting time performance in February.

The latest figures show 146 patients waited between 30 and 60 minutes before entering the hospital - costing the Trust £200 per patient - and 37 patients waiting more than an hour for an ambulance - at a rate of £1,000 per person.

National guidelines state patients should be handed over from the care of paramedics to hospital staff in under 15 minutes.

The figures were revealed at a meeting of the Royal Wolverhampton NHS Trust yesterday.

The results, part of the monthly performance report, showed the Trust was fined £66,200 for February due to missing its target on ambulance waiting times.

It has been fined more than £150,000 in the past three months as a result of the ambulance waiting times.

Chief executive of the Trust, David Loughton said after the meeting: "These fines are a waste of public money.

"We are one of the better Trusts for ambulance waiting times.

"But these fines do nothing to motivate our clinical staff. They just want to treat patients.

"About 80 per cent of those patients waiting are seen and treated and back home within four hours.

"This is just a waste of public money with accountants being paid to fine those staff that are out there treating patients."

In December, 128 patients had to wait more than 30 minutes while four waited more than an hour.

This led to thee trust being fined £29,600 by Wolverhampton CCG.

In January, the Trust was fined £85,200 on the basis of 221 patients waiting between 30 and 60 minutes and 41 patients waiting longer than an hour.

Health chiefs pointed out that in January, there were 54 more ambulances taking people to hospital than the same period in the previous year.