FOUR people in south Essex died in the two weeks after Christmas following long waits for ambulances, including a woman on Canvey who waited almost four hours while suffering a cardiac arrest, it has been claimed.

Just last week the Echo reported how a whistleblower told how 20 people died in Essex due to ambulances arriving late over a 12-day period this winter.

But now specific details of those incidents have been leaked to the “Save Canvey’s Paramedic Response Car” Facebook page.

Our well-placed source confirmed the information was “100% accurate”.

The document reveals how on Christmas Day in Basildon a person died following a cardiac arrest and had to wait an hour and 11 minutes for an ambulance to arrive, while on January 3 in Leigh, someone initially suffering a shortness of breath then a heart attack, died after waiting 38 minutes for an ambulance.

Most shockingly, a person in Benfleet who suffered a fall and cardiac arrest waited six hours and seven minutes for an ambulance before dying, while the Canvey woman waited three hours and 34 minutes.

On January 2 when the Canvey woman died, the first responder vehicle, which may face the axe, was according to our source, unmanned.

A resident who works closely with Canvey First Responders, but asked to remain anonymous, said: “I know that information is factual, the ambulance can deny it if they wish but I am totally confident that this is accurate, and I know for a fact that poor lady died on the 2nd.

“The question that needs to be asked, is why was the Rapid Response Vehicle unmanned on that night.

"Well the answer is, the senior paramedic on duty was taken away, he was told to leave the RRV, get on board an ambulance, and was taken almost immediately off the island.

"It is disgusting. Someone has to be held accountable for this person’s death.”

Despite the Echo passing all available information to the East of England Ambulance Service press office, the service has stated it is “not recognising” the information as correct, but were no more specific in relation to each incident.

A spokesperson said: “We are not recognising this data as correct and no concerns have been raised by staff formally through whistleblowing channels including freedom to speak up.

“The Trust had plans in place over the festive period which this alleged data relates to, however, the Trust experienced extreme levels of demand over the new year period in particular. The Trust was unable to respond to a very small number of the 50,000 calls we handled over a 15 day period as quickly as we would like. Where any suspected cases of potential harm are identified, then the Trust will exercise it’s duty of candour to notify patients or their families.

“Regarding the rapid response vehicle in Canvey, no decisions have been made by the Trust as to which rapid response vehicles will be removed or replaced by ambulances.”

l If you knew any of the people whose deaths are reported in this story, please call our reporter, Sean Davies, on 01268 469409.