Airedale Hospital bosses have apologised after a sharp increase in waiting times in accident and emergency.

The number of patients forced to wait more than four hours for treatment – the key Government target – rose by 265 per cent year-on-year, official statistics show.

In the first week of April last year, the target was busted for just 20 people – but that figure leapt to 73 in the first week of this month. In contrast, the number of four hour-plus waits fell at Bradford Royal Infirmary – from 144 to 122 patients – defying the national trend.

Andrew Catto, executive medical director at Airedale NHS Trust, pointed to the start of the Easter weekend, with some GP surgeries shut, as a possible explanation for the increase.

But he said: “We apologise to any patients who waited longer than we would have liked for their treatment.

“All patients are seen and assessed when they initially come to A&E, so that we can treat any life-threatening and urgent cases immediately.

“This may mean that some patients with minor injuries or those needing less immediate treatment may wait longer than we would want and, again, we apologise for that.”

Mr Catto added it was “difficult to compare two weeks for any accident and emergency department, as every day is different”. He made no reference to alleged problems with the new 111 non-emergency phone line, blamed, this week, by Airedale staff for strain in the A&E department.

Meanwhile, the Tory-led health select committee announced an urgent inquiry into NHS emergency services, which were “under growing pressure as demand rises and resource pressure grows”.

Across England, the number of people waiting more than four hours surged from 13,081 in the first week of April last year, to 33,225 one year later.

Labour seized on the figures to warn the NHS was returning to the “bad old days of the mid-1990s”. It blamed the “increasing chaos” on severe staffing cuts, coupled with the knock-on from local council cuts to care services.

Andy Burnham, Labour’s health spokesman, said, of the weekly snapshot: “Thousands of patients were left waiting hours on end to be seen. In some hospitals, one in three people waited more than four hours. These problems are well-known but they have been neglected as the NHS has been distracted by the biggest-ever re-organisation. Ministers must urgently develop a plan.”

Health Minister Jeremy Hunt agreed there was “a lot of pressure on A&E”, which was being used by one million more people every year. He blamed Labour’s GP contract, which had forced more patients into A&E, and the “disastrous decision to implement the working time directive”.