“Alarming” figures have revealed that there has been an increase in people waiting longer than four hours in accident and emergency.

Figures from NHS England show that 1,898 people waited more than four hours at North Middlesex University Hospital’s A&E unit, in Sterling Way, Edmonton, in the past three months, 521 more than the same three month period in 2013.

The hospital, which has had a boom in patients since the closure of Chase Farm Hospital’s A&E in December, 2013, has also seen a rise in the number of patients waiting on a trolley in A&E.

A total of 959 patients waited longer than four hours, 430 more than the three-month period last year.

Two months ago, health watchdog the Care Quality Commission found that the A&E at the Edmonton hospital “required improvement” and that “more needed to be done by the trust to make sure good quality care was maintained.”

Watchdog Healthwatch Enfield stated in its weekly A&E data that there have been longer waits in A&E at NMUH recently.

It went on: “As a result, a recovery plan has been produced to address the continued poor performance against the A&E standard.

“We have been closely monitoring this since the recovery plan was introduced at the beginning of August.

“The recovery plan has appeared to improve waiting times since it was implemented but there have been some weeks where waiting times have increased. This week appears to be a difficult week for NMUH.”

Edmonton MP Andy Love said the figures were “alarming” and added: “Local people just want to know that the NHS is safe for this generation and the ones that follow. 

“Seeing alarming figures about A&E waits rising at our local NHS trust is not going to make them feel that the Government is serious about protecting the NHS, whereas the Time to Care fund would do just that.”

A spokesman for the hospital said: "Attendances at our A&E department are expected to have grown by almost 26,000 this year compared to last and we have recruited 11 more A&E doctors and 16 more A&E nurses to support this growth.

“Whilst there has been a slight relative increase in the number of patients who have waited for more than four hours, we have continued to meet the national 95 per cent four hour wait target for all A&E patients in the first and second quarters of this year."