STAFF at Southend Hospital say they “can’t do any more” as NHS services come under increasing winter pressures.

Dozens of ambulances were understood to be waiting outside the hospital on Wednesday night.

When the Echo visited the hospital it saw as many as 14 vehicles parked up, while it is understood up to 29 may have been waiting at the worst point.

Staff at the hospital told the Echo the ambulances had “people waiting to be admitted” inside.

It come as the East of England Ambulance Service urged patients only to call 999 in lifethreatening situations as it said it would prioritise serious calls.

One hospital worker, who asked to be anonymous, said: “Those ambulances will have patients in them waiting.

“There are not enough beds and we just can’t do any more.”

A spokesman for Save Southend NHS campaign group said: “We were told at its worse there were 29 ambulances waiting and almost all of them had people in waiting to be admitted to the hospital.

“Workers feel fed up and desperate. Staff were taking out food and drink for patients stuck in ambulances because they felt so sorry for them.

“The staff tell us they are seeing more coming than they would have expected.”

It comes a day after the Echo reported how a nurse described Southend Hospital’s new ambulance handover unit as a “Portacabin”, slamming hospital executives and MPs for “smiling in photos” despite “backlogs of ambulances daily”.

In a joint statement from the Mid and South Essex Trust and East of England Ambulance Service insisted the unit had made tangible improvements to the hospital.

Southend Hospital opened the £235,000 unit two months ago, designed to ease pressure on the emergency department by allowing ambulances to drop off patients and get crews back on the road more quickly.

An East of England Ambulance Service spokesman said: “The NHS is facing incredibly high demand and we are working very closely with hospitals to reduce handover delays and improve care to our patients.

“We are doing all we can to boost the number of ambulances we have on the road, including recruiting additional clinical staff and using non-clinical drivers.

We’re also working to reduce the number of patients going to hospital, including directing patients to urgent community response services when appropriate.

“We continue to ask the public to use NHS resources wisely as we must prioritise those most in need.”

A spokesman for Mid and South Essex NHS Foundation Trust, said: “Our hospitals are experiencing an extremely high demand for their services, with many arriving at A&E by ambulance, reflecting just how busy local NHS and social care providers are.

“We want to reassure everyone that the NHS is open, staff are working incredibly hard, and anyone needing life-threatening help must always come forward.”