Ambulances are taking longer to hand over patients to hospitals and get back on the road.

Accident and emergency departments across Sussex have become busier in the last two years.

South East Coast Ambulance Service (Secamb) turnaround times take into account the length of time it takes to hand over patients they bring in and preparing the ambulance for the next incident, including cleaning and re-stocking.

It should take 15 minutes to hand over a patient and another 15 minutes to prepare the vehicle.

Any turnaround time taking more than 30 minutes is logged by the service.

However hospitals are under increased pressure, meaning it can sometimes take longer for patients to be transferred from ambulances and into the department, especially at particularly busy times such as Friday nights and weekends.

Figures show more than 2,404 hours were logged at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton in 2009/10 which rose to 2,852 in 2011/2.

Worthing Hospital rose from 1,315 to 1,477 and Eastbourne District General Hospital increased from 3,633 to 4,102.

The Conquest Hospital in St Leonards fell from 2,596 hours to 1,827 while St Richard’s in Chichester dropped from 1,025 to 988.

An ambulance service spokesman said: “Secamb is committed to ensuring the time it takes to handover a patient to hospital is not delayed so patients receive the best possible standards of care.

“We monitor turnaround times at all receiving hospitals using live data so that any pressures in the system are picked up by our control rooms and appropriate action taken.

“Secamb acknowledges there are times when demand is high across the heathcare system, where there can be delays in turnaround time.

“We work hard with NHS colleagues to overcome any issues.”

The College of Paramedics, which represents ambulance crews, said any delays were a major risk to patient safety.

For more information about health services in your area go to theargus.co.uk/localinfo