HUNDREDS of extra paramedics and ambulances will take to the streets to save lives following a funding boost.

Health bosses have agreed to boost the amount given to the East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust by £11.5million.

The move comes after claims in Parliament that patients had died because the 999 service was struggling to cope.

Marie Norris, 81, died alone at her home in Abbigail Gardens, Clacton, as she waited almost four hours for an ambulance to arrive on January 2 this year after suffering chest pains.

She lived less than a mile from the town’s ambulance station.

The money will fund 300 extra paramedics and 169 ambulances.

Funding for 2017/18 was £213.5million and will go up to £225million in 2018/19.

This could rise by another £15million the following year. Following a wide-ranging report from NHS England and NHS Improvement, a group of 19 clinical commissioners in the east of England agreed the new six-year contract with the ambulance service. It followed a report which said the trust did not have the funds or the resources to fulfil its life-saving role.

Trust chief executive Robert Morton said: “This is an excellent step forward as we aim to ease the strain on our existing staff who work incredibly hard for patients.

“That strain has been evident particularly over the last few months, during the increased demand which winter pressures always brings to the NHS.

“As a system, we are looking after more people with complex long-term conditions than ever before.

“This will take time to do. Extra funding will mean the ambulance service can expand to meet the rising demand.”