The ambulance service has apologised for delays in reaching patients as it struggles to cope with a high volume of calls.

South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SECAmb) has responded to close to 350,000 999 calls since January this year – an increase of 30,000 incidents compared to the same period in 2015.

As well as a large number of emergency calls, delays at busy hospitals are also "severely" impacting SECAmb, and a national shortage of paramedics is also taking its toll.

The Trust is currently working with hospitals and carrying out recruitment to remedy the situation.

Acting Chief Executive Geraint Davies said: “The demand on the Trust continues to be extremely high and, as ever, all our staff are rising to the challenge and I’m extremely proud of their commitment and effort.

"I’d also like to apologise that it is taking us longer than we would like and expect to respond to patients.

“I want to reassure the public that improving our performance in spite of these challenges and improving the service we provide to all our patients is my top priority.

"We are very aware that there are some significant improvements which we need to address, as was highlighted with our recent CQC inspection.

"We were aware and already taking action to address many of these issues and that work will continue so that we provide our patients with the service they rightly expect and deserve and so that our staff feel valued as they perform such a challenging role.”

SECAmb came under fire in February, when it emerged the Trust had deliberately delayed some ambulances responding to NHS 111 call-outs in order to meet targets under a secret policy.

Chairman Tony Thorne resigned in March and chief executive Paul Sutton left by mutual agreement last month, following the scandal.

Just last week, a union boss suggested SECAmb be subject to a government inquiry following a damning inspection by the CQC.

SECAmb is urging the public to only dial 999 in an emergency. Staff can provide medical advice and support over the phone in non urgent cases on 111.