The performance of accident and emergency departments in the borough is showing “a marked downward trend”.

Patients brought into A&E by ambulances experienced longer waiting times to be transferred into ward beds between May and September this year, according to figures.

Redbridge Council’s Labour Group is concerned by statistics showing overall A&E performance is “nowhere near” the standards set out in the NHS Constitution and is calling for more beds in the area’s hospitals.

NHS targets state 95 per cent of patients who come to A&E should be seen within four hours. These targets are not being met by Barking, Havering and Redbridge University Hospitals Trust (BHRUT), but neither are they being met up and down the country.

Continuing cuts to NHS services by central government have placed further strain on local trusts already “stretched to breaking point” and Redbridge’s council leader Cllr Jas Athwal has acknowledged this.

One councillor, however, feels these trends constitute “a failing” on the part of BHRUT and raised concerns that senior staff have denied trends that the new figures support.

Cllr Neil Zammett, of Goodmayes ward, wrote a letter to BHRUT’s chairman Christopher Bown and said: “I am particularly concerned about this data because senior trust staff have denied that there are any patients waiting more than an hour [to be transferred from an ambulance] at the public meetings I have chaired”.

A BHRUT spokesman denied that patients were being left to wait in ambulances for over an hour.

They explained the procedure is for ambulance patients to be brought into the hospital on an ambulance bed and treated in the rafting area, as they would be on a ward, while they wait for a bed in a hospital ward.

They added that patients who are more severely ill receive treatment sooner and that BHRUT currently receives 50 per cent more ambulances to its hospitals than other hospital trust in the country.

Cllr Zammett said: “There are two sources of information for these statistics. One is the NHS England website and the other is BHRUT’s own website.

“What I do not understand is how senior staff are denying these trends but the figures are clearly showing something different.

“If BHRUT think the figures are wrong then let’s have the facts and tell us why the figures are wrong. As it is I think the figures stand.”

The councillor has asked BHRUT’s chairman to confirm that the trust accepts the statistics and acknowledges that they represent “a significant failing on its part”.

He has also called on the trust to provide 50-60 more beds in its departments to cope with demand and ensure a “much safer and more comfortable” experience for patients, rather than waiting on ambulance trolley beds for hours.

Cllr Zammett added: “We are very likely to move into unknown territory in January and February next year.”

Shelagh Smith, chief operating officer for BHRUT, said: “We, along with the rest of the NHS, are under extreme pressure and have seen the number of patients attending our emergency departments rise significantly.

“The patients coming to us are sicker and require more intensive treatment. This is demonstrated by the increased number of people coming to our emergency departments via ambulance.”

Ms Smith explained the trust was working to improve ambulance handover times by adding two additional cubicles and a seating area to the focused treatment area of Queen’s Hospital in Romford.

Ms Smith added: “Everyone in our community has a role to play. That is why we urge people to think very carefully before coming to our emergency departments, and to only do so in a real emergency, such as choking, chest pain, black outs or severe blood loss.”