Ambulance crews are experiencing severe delays as they try to save dying patients in the pandemic because of the time it takes to put on protective equipment, a coronavirus inquiry has heard.

Ambulance technician Mark Tilley seemed close to tears as he described the experience.

"I bottled things up. A lot of times I was told I was cold. I just dealt with it the way I dealt with it," he said.

He added that during the pandemic, some ambulance crews have moved into budget hotels for weeks at a time to avoid putting families at risk.

Mr Tilley, who works for the South East Coast Ambulance Service, gave evidence as a representative of the GMB union.

In January 2021, at the height of the winter pandemic, he voluntarily moved with 40 colleagues to Sittingbourne in north Kent for three weeks.

A new coronavirus variant has recently emerged in the region and appears to be spreading faster, putting hospitals under increasing pressure.

He told investigators that on one occasion he had to wait in line for an ambulance outside the emergency room for a full ten hours because there was not enough space to move a patient who had "severely deteriorated" into the building.

"We ran out of oxygen, so we had to scan the hospital to try to find (more)," he said. "We ordered pizza in the car because otherwise we wouldn't have anything to eat."

Due to lockdown regulations at the time, the volunteer ambulance crews slept in a budget hotel, with some deciding not to return home to avoid putting their families at risk.

"You have nowhere to go, so you only have the facilities there: TV and phone," he said.

"You have 12 hours (after get off work) to think about everything you see: the lines at the hospital, the poor patients."

In his evidence, Mr Tilley described arriving at a home where patients were dying "either in the front window or on the road".

Under the guidance, paramedics and other responders were told they had to wait until they arrived on scene before donning plastic Tyvek suits and protective hoods or masks.

He said it could take staff a crucial minute and a half before treatment could begin: "I would usually go over and start bouncing up and down their chest (performing CPR).

“But (instead) we went and put on masks, put on gowns, all that stuff — that’s always in the back of my mind.

"To me, no matter what you talk about, you can't change history, it is history. We can't change it."

Alice Hands, the inquiry's lawyer, said research commissioned by the inquiry had found similar findings, with other ambulance crews saying they were "forced not to intervene... and watch helplessly" when putting on the equipment. Watching people die."

Anthony Marsh, NHS England's national ambulance adviser and former chairman of the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives, said in his evidence that he was aware of the concerns at the time and did raise the matter with senior colleagues.

But he said it was "not safe" to allow staff to wear personal protective equipment when heading to sites to shorten overall response times.