AN MP is calling for Essex to get its own dedicated ambulance service amid long queues and delays to the current service.

Conservative Rayleigh and Wickford MP Mark Francois and Robert Halfon, MP for Harlow, say the current system is in “dire need of a major overhaul”.

Mr Francois told parliament the area the East of England Ambulance Service Trust (EEAST) serves is too big while Halfon added Essex needed a dedicated service.

EEAST, which has an approximate annual budget of £247 million, serves the counties of Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Norfolk and Suffolk – an area size of 7,500 square miles with a population of more than 6.2 million.

Ministers have told parliament they will meet and discuss reforms to the ambulance service after two Essex MPs called for a breakaway service for the county.

Minister for patient safety Mariah Caulfield said: “I am happy to meet and discuss any safety concerns and any issues, following the review from the cases we have heard of today.”