AMBULANCE crews are coming under increased pressure as they battle to cope with a surge in demand.

South East Coast Ambulance Service (Secamb) received more than 9,500 999 calls over the Easter weekend and there is no sign of an immediate let up.

At one point on Thursday, 71 calls were on hold as Secamb had insufficient ambulances.

Clinical director Andy Newton praised "exhausted" staff and said it was "one of the most difficult periods" in his 10 years.

As well as responding to Storm Katie, GPs surgeries were closed, some out-of-hours provisions was insufficient and hospital accident and emergency departments were incredibly busy.

The ambulance service has revealed it is working at a "critical level" - one level away from declaring a service failure and asking other parts of the NHS for support.

Delays in the time it takes to hand over patients at hospital accident and emergency departments has been adding to the pressure.

The longer crews have to wait at hospitals, the longer it takes for them to get back out on to the road and respond to emergencies.

The trust has now upgraded its internal action plan for responding to an escalation in demand to level five out of six.

Board members have also been told the trust just failed to hit its target of responding to life-threatening and urgent calls in February.

Crews are supposed to respond to 75 per cent of them within eight minutes.

However in February the trust was responding within nine minutes for Red 1, life-threatening, and ten minutes for urgent.

The trust is working closely with hospitals to minimise delays when patients are handed over.

Regional operations manager, James Pavey, said: “We’re continuing to experience high levels of demand and we are focussing our efforts to responding to our most seriously ill and injured patients. Non life-threatening calls are unfortunately likely to receive a longer response.

“Anyone faced with an emergency shouldn’t hesitate to call but we would urge anyone else who needs help to consider all the other options available to them.

“This might be dialling NHS111 for help, where staff can provide support and advice over the phone and refer patient to out-of-hours services where appropriate.”