THOUSANDS of ambulance crew hours are still being 'lost' due to slow handovers of patients at Gwent A&E units, despite massive improvements.

More than 4,300 hours - almost six months - were lost during the period January 1 2011-February 19 2012, to patient handovers at the Royal Gwent and Nevill Hall Hospital units that took longer than the target 15 minutes.

The figures are part of Wales-wide statistics obtained by the Welsh Liberal Democrats for 13 A&E units, and overall, almost 20,000 hours were lost during that 13-and-a-half month period.

The Royal Gwent had the highest amount of lost crew hours, with 2,998, ahead of Glan Clwyd Hospital in north Wales (2,934), and Cardiff's University Hospital of Wales (UHW) with 2,845.

The figures will make difficult reading for health bosses throughout Wales, but while more needs to be done, there have been huge improvements on patient handovers, particularly in Gwent.

At the height of the winter pressure on ambulance services in January 2011, it was revealed that 20,000 crew hours had been lost to slow handovers at the Royal Gwent and Nevill Hall in the 22 months to October 2010.

As with the latest period under scrutiny, the Royal Gwent A&E was the worst single performer in Wales, with 15,909 hours lost.

In the past year, a key development has been the employment of an ambulance liaison nurse at the unit, to act as a bridge between unit staff and crews, taking over care of patients and enabling crews to get back on the road more quickly.

In January 2011 alone, 680 crew hours were lost at the Royal Gwent, and while the milder winter is a key factor in a reduction to 226 lost hours this January, staff rota improvements and the liaison nurse's role have also been vital.

For much of the past year, the Royal Gwent has lost less ambulance crew hours at handover than UHW.

An Aneurin Bevan Health Board spokesman said 15-minute handover performance has improved 22 per cent in the last year and the board is now among Wales' top three performers.