Ambulances 'face hours of A&E queues', figures reveal 9 December 2013 Last updated at 00:00 By Nick Triggle Health correspondent Patients are facing hours of waiting in ambulances outside A&E departments, BBC figures show - with one case revealing an almost six-and-a-half hour delay. The data, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, showed Wales had the longest waits across the UK. It also highlighted significant problems across much of England over the last three months, while Scotland was found to have the best record. NHS England said the situation was improving, despite the pressures. It comes amid mounting strain on A&E units as winter gets under way. Longest waits Paramedics can only hand patients over to hospitals when staff there are ready to take charge of them. This process is supposed to take no longer than 15 minutes, and in England delays of over 30 minutes can lead to fines for the hospital. The BBC asked all UK ambulance services for their longest waits for each of the 12 weeks from early August to the end of October. No service saw its longest wait dip under an hour, with many around the two-hour mark. The longest wait was seen in Wales where one ambulance was left queuing for six hours 22 minutes. Each weekly maximum wait in Wales for the period was above three hours. In England, the east had the longest single wait at five hours 51 minutes. Scotland had the best record in the UK with none of the weekly maximums exceeding two hours. Only Northern Ireland and the Isle of Wight failed to provide data. Exception to the rule Dr Clifford Mann, president of the College of Emergency Medicine, described the figures as "alarming." "With the winter months now upon us, it is probable that these types of delay will become even more frequent and this is a cause for grave concern," he said. A Welsh government spokesman said: "Lengthy patient handover delays are clearly unacceptable." But he added the long delays were the "exception to the rule" as the average waiting times were around the 20-minute mark. Barbara Hakin, of NHS England, said: "It is essential ambulances are back on the road as soon as possible after taking patients to A&E." But she said that while there were pressures on the system, the number of delays that were over 30 minutes was currently running at almost 4,500 a week - down on last year's figure. Feeling the strain The findings have been revealed as the NHS gears up for winter, when cold weather can lead to extra pressure on services. To help keep track of what is happening, the BBC has launched a special NHS winter project. It includes access to weekly information on how each major A&E in England is coping, as well as a dedicated Facebook page. The latest data suggests the health service is already beginning to feel the strain. While the four-hour A&E waiting time target is being met nationally, there are many individual hospitals falling short. More than half of the major A&E units - known as type 1 - are already in breach of it. The number of non-emergency operations being cancelled and the delays being seen in discharging patients are also higher than they were this time last year.