AMBULANCE performance times are now the worst on record, the latest data revealed today, with unions branding it a “‎national disgrace made in 10 Downing Street.”

One in 10 people were left waiting for ambulances for more than three-and-a-half hours last month after falling seriously ill with the likes of hearts attacks, strokes and sepsis, according to NHS England.

The average response time in December for ambulances dealing with the most urgent incidents, such as cardiac arrests, was 10 minutes and 57 seconds.

This is against a target of seven minutes and is the slowest time on record.

December also saw an increase in the number of excess deaths, according to the Office for National Statistics, amid a surge in flu cases.

MPs will be examining whether pressures on emergency care contributed to the high number of fatalities in a probe which will hear from the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM).

Thousands of striking ambulance workers across England and Wales have raised the alarm on poor conditions and patients suffering long waits.

Downing Street, which has refused to call the situation in the NHS a crisis, said the figures are “obviously unacceptable” and the government was “very focused” on improving NHS performance.

But Unite general secretary Sharon Graham said the government “must carry the can” for excessive deaths caused by the problems highlighted in last month’s statistics.

She said: “The blame for this tragedy lies with years of underfunding and poor pay. It is a national disgrace delivered by Downing Street.

“The government is failing to address the staffing crisis in the NHS and failing to enter into realistic negotiations on pay which would halt the staff exodus.

“Rather than fix the problem, the government resorts to dangerous gimmicks like the anti-trade union Minimum Services Bill — which will make matters worse if France and Spain are anything to go by.”

The NHS England figures also found a record 54,532 people had waited more than 12 hours in A&E departments last month from a decision to admit to being admitted.

And the proportion of patients seen within four hours in England’s A&Es fell to a record low of 65 per cent in December — the worst performance on record.

Unison head of health Sara Gorton said the “grim” figures were “exactly why ambulance workers were out on picket lines this week.”

She added: “NHS staff know just how bad things have got in the NHS. They want the government to act on pay and staffing so services can be brought back from the brink.”

Ms Gorton called for funding to boost health workers’ pay, otherwise “staff will keep leaving and the NHS will never recover.”

RCEM vice-president Professor Ian Higginson warned that longer waits in A&E departments will mean more patient deaths, telling BBC Radio 4’s The World at One that “for every 82 patients who wait more than six hours in an emergency department, there is an associated death.”

Royal College of Nursing England director for England Patricia Marquis said that “corridor care” in hospitals appears to have become the norm.

“Some nurses are being booked to work in hospital corridors, others are being asked to buy Ikea hooks so intravenous drips can be attached to the corridor wall — and some patients are having cardiac arrests because of mistakes made using cumbersome oxygen cylinders to treat them,” she said.

Health Foundation senior policy fellow Tim Gardner said the data shows the “NHS is facing an emergency, but the roots of this lie in political choices made over the last decade, not the cold weather or seasonal flu.”

Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting said: “After 13 years of Conservative mismanagement of the NHS, expecting them to fix this crisis is like asking the arsonist to put out the fire they started — it is not going to happen.”

MPs sitting on the health and social care committee are to probe the link between excess deaths and pressures on A&E on Thursday.