Save Southend NHS campaigners have warned the south and mid Essex hospital merger could mean longer ambulance waiting times for people living on Canvey.

Kieran Smith, campaigner and Labour representative for Castle Point, said: “This looks good on paper and it will be good if they can get the additional money and invest it in the NHS.

“If there’s a traffic jam, it take two to three hours for ambulances to get to the island because we only have two roads.

“Ambulances will struggle to get on and off the island.”

A spokesman for the East of England Ambulance Trust, said: “Patients are taken to the hospital most appropriate for the care needed for them, so it’s completely dependent on the condition of the individual patient.

“The clinicians’ expertise and the resources available to them on a vehicle allows the patient to receive quality care en route.”