Three of England’s four worst-performing A&Es are in Greater Manchester, according to new NHS stats on winter pressure figures.

Wythenshawe , Tameside and Stockport came second, third and fourth from bottom for waiting times out of around 250 trusts.

Only North Middlesex university hospital in London fared worse.

Hospital targets require 95pc of patients to be seen within four hours of arriving at A&E.

At Wythenshawe more than a quarter of people waited longer than that in January, with the hospital recording a figure of just 71.7pc.

Tameside - which in November was the worst in the country - managed 73.4pc and Stepping Hill 73.5pc.

None of Greater Manchester’s NHS trusts hit the target.

Waiting times at A&E (%) Wythenshawe A&E 71.7% Tameside A&E 73.4% Stepping Hill A&E 73.5%

Hospital sources said the problem was no longer ‘time wasters’ - people blamed in the past for using A&E unnecessarily - but bed blocking by vulnerable, elderly patients stuck in hospital too long due to a lack of social care.

One insider claimed the social care system was ‘close to collapse’.

The claim was underlined a 12pc rise in bed blocking across Greater Manchester in January, with every trust - including mental health trusts - seeing an increase apart from Pennine Acute.

Nationally Wythenshawe had the eighth highest number of delayed transfers, the official term for bed blocking, while Bolton and Central Manchester both saw particularly marked increases.

A spokesman for Stockport NHS Foundation Trust said: “Along with other hospitals in the region we are experiencing huge pressures due to the number of acutely ill people arriving at our A&E combined with much higher numbers of older patients who require social support to be discharged from hospital.

“As a result, meeting the A&E four hour wait target is a continuing problem.

“Every possible effort is being made to safely treat and discharge patients. We have brought in extra staff, put additional beds in place and are working closely with social care services to try and speed up the safe discharge of patients. We are also working with out-of-hours GP services and other partners to help promote alternatives to A&E.

“We know that long waits in A&E are very distressing for patients, and we apologise for this, but our main priority is patient safety.

“It is really important to stress that our quality of patient care remains high. We hope people understand that we have to prioritise and treat the most urgent cases first.”

A spokesman for University Hospitals South Manchester NHS Trust - which runs Wythenshawe - said: "We are disappointed that we were unable to see everyone within the four hour emergency wait time target and we would like to apologise for this.

“Our doctors and nurses in our emergency department worked incredibly hard during this challenging period, however patient safety and high quality care remained their priority throughout.

“With high numbers continuing to attend our emergency department we have to prioritise and we recognise that some patients may still experience longer waits, we want to thank patients and their families for their co-operation.

“We continue to work with local partners to develop long term solutions that will reduce waiting times and demands on our service.”

A Tameside hospital spokesman said: "January’s figures continue to reflect the on-going challenges we see in our Emergency Department.

"These are the same issues felt across Greater Manchester and nationally.

"Since the beginning of March the Trust has been seeing 92.4% of patients within four hours, against a 95% standard, which is the best in Greater Manchester."

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