Essex Ambulance Service continues to smash through the Government's emergency response time standards despite a five per cent increase in demand.

The Home Office sets down targets of reaching 75 per cent of life-threatening calls within eight minutes.

Director of Essex operations, Paul Leaman, said staff were making maximum effort to ensure the good level of service is continued throughout the busy winter period.

And he confirmed that additional vehicles would be manned to cope with the expected increase in demand.

Published Wednesday December 19, 2001