My wife was recently taken to hospital by ambulance after a fall at home.

She received marvellous care from the paramedics and all the nurses and doctors at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton.

The hospital staff were under intense pressure but their dedication to their patients shone through.

I was interested to witness the long period of time the paramedics spent waiting to hand over their patients.

A significant proportion of their shift is often down time as they cannot get back on the road until their patient is formally handed over.

Rather than tie up the paramedics for such a time,would it not be more productive all round to have nominated co-ordinators in A&E whose specific responsibility is to receive ambulance patients and fairly quickly release the paramedics to deal with the next emergency call.

Maybe the funding and responsibilty could be shared between the hospital and the ambulance service.

I appreciate that this issue is never going to be easy to resolve, but it is far from perfect at the moment.

Keep up the good work NHS.

Philip Plummer

Fulmar Close

Hove