A recruitment drive for scores of new call handlers and further mental health support for staff are among the measures geared at addressing growing trouble with ambulance delays - with the issue having caused harm to almost 30 people since the summer.

But bosses at the region's ambulance trust have admitted they alone can not completely eradicate the issue, which has seen fatal consequences in recent weeks.

The board of the East of England Ambulance Trust (EEAST) heard on Wednesday of a recent case which saw a patient die at home while waiting for an ambulance to take them to the James Paget University Hospital (JPUH) in Gorleston.

It came in the weeks after two separate incidents saw patients die in hospital car parks waiting to be treated - one at the JPUH and another at Addenbrooke's in Cambridge.

And figures shared with the board showed 13 serious incidents were experienced by patients in October along - and 29 since June.

Tom Abell, the trust's new chief executive, stressed that elements of the pressure facing the trust were out of its hands, including the availability of hospital beds to move ambulance patients into.

But he also outlined a range of measures being taken by the trust to mitigate factors it does have control over.

These include offering additional support to staff members to address the physical and mental challenges of their jobs and a recruitment drive to attract some 100 new call handlers across the region.

He said: "The pressure we are seeing is being driven by a combination of factors within the organisation. We have spoken about some of the issues we've had around handover delays and recognising issues in terms of sickness and people having to take time away from work.

"We're taking action of all of those fronts and have made good progress on them. We have recruited over 50 new call handlers and aim to have over 100 more people working in our call centres so we can make sure we are picking up the phone fast."

He added the trust was also removing caps on the amount of mental health and physiotherapy support staff members can access, in a bid to address the amount of staff members requiring time off work to battle these issues.