Croydon University Hospital was the second-worst in London for accident and emergency (A&E) waiting times over winter, figures have revealed.

More patients were left waiting for treatment outside Croydon University Hospital's A&E unit over winter than at all but hospital in the capital.

Paramedics were forced to wait for more than 30 minutes on 500 occasions between November and February because there were no available hospital staff to receive patients.

NHS guidelines state patients should be delivered to A&E staff within 15 minutes of arrival, with trusts facing fines if they fail to hit targets.

Only North West London Hospitals NHS Trust - where 711 patients waited more than half an hour - saw more delays than Croydon over winter.

In January, the Croydon Guardian reported that Croydon University Hospital had seen a huge surge in delays compared to winter 2011/12.

Since then, Croydon Health Services NHS Trust has submitted a bid for £17m to finance A&E improvements.

Kathryn Channing, head of service at Croydon University Hospital A&E, said: "At a time of increasing demand for our services, we’re continuing to improve our A&E.

"We’ve made a number of changes to the way that the A&E is organised and we have recruited new consultants to increase the numbers of senior doctors that are available to see patients.

"We’ve also received some positive initial feedback from the NHS Trust Development Agency on our bid for £17m to upgrade our A&E facilities."