The proportion of patients arriving by ambulance at hospitals in England who are waiting at least 30 minutes to be handed over to A&E teams has reached a new high, figures show.

Some 21,432 delays of half an hour or longer were recorded across all hospital trusts last week.

This was 27% of the 79,548 arrivals by ambulance and the highest percentage since the start of winter.

Handover delays of at least 30 minutes have been on an upward trend for the past few months, having stood at 18% in mid-January.

Delays lasting more than an hour have also been rising and accounted for 13% of all ambulance arrivals last week, up from 12% the previous week and 10% the week before.

Figures for ambulance delays are published by NHS England and the current data runs from the start of December 2021.

Analysis by the PA news agency shows that Northern Lincolnshire & Goole NHS Foundation Trust reported the highest proportion of handovers delayed by at least 30 minutes last week (74%), followed by Shrewsbury & Telford (72%), University Hospitals Bristol & Weston (72%), and Gloucestershire Hospitals (71%).

Gloucestershire Hospitals topped the list for handovers delayed by more than an hour (58%), followed by Northern Lincolnshire & Goole (55%), University Hospitals Bristol & Weston (54%) and Shrewsbury & Telford (51%).

A handover delay does not always mean a patient has waited in the ambulance.

They may have been moved into an A&E department but staff were not available to complete the handover.

But the figures are another sign of the pressures hospitals are facing amid the latest rise in coronavirus infections.

Separate data published on Thursday showed staff absences at NHS hospitals in England due to Covid-19 are at their highest level since late January, with numbers continuing to climb in most regions.

Absences averaged 28,560 a day last week – the equivalent of 3% of the workforce – up from 27,571 the previous week, though still below the 45,736 (5% of the workforce) reached in early January.

NHS national medical director Professor Stephen Powis said: “Today’s figures sum up just how busy NHS staff currently are – alongside increasing numbers of Covid and emergency patients and with 94% of beds now occupied, they are also dealing with the highest number of staff off sick due to the virus for 10 weeks.

“Our frontline staff are working closely together with social care providers to ensure patients leave hospital as soon as they are fit to do so, and hospitals have increased bed numbers and created extra capacity in line with increasing pressure.”

A total of 16,587 people were in hospital in England with Covid-19 as of April 6, up 6% week on week and the highest since January 17, NHS England said.

Patient numbers are nearing the peak reached in early January – 17,120 – but remain well below the 34,336 at the peak of the second wave of the virus at the start of 2021.