One in seven patients in Wales waited more than 12 hours to be seen in an emergency department in February.

This led to calls from the Royal College of Emergency Medicine (RCEM) for "collaboration and support."

The 'distressingly' long waits in major emergency departments in Wales have increased by 210 per cent since February 2017, from 4,048 to 9,496 patients, according to the monthly NHS data released on March 21.

The data reveals that 42 per cent of patients (26,235) waited for four hours or more to be seen.

RCEM's vice president for Wales, Dr Rob Perry, said: "We are all in agreement that no-one should wait more than twelve hours to be seen in an emergency department and we applaud the Welsh Government for stating its commitment to address this issue."

He called the problem 'dangerous' and "a huge mountain to climb" and expressed concern over the distress caused to patients and staff.