An ambulance trust which has been heavily criticised after it deliberately delayed thousands of 111 calls is to be put into special measures, it's been claimed.

The service came under fire after it was revealed up to 20,000 patients were subjected to delays simply because patients - some classed as life-threatening - used the helpline.

Last October Health regulator Monitor criticised South East Coast Ambulance Service for the project which increased how long some patients were waiting for ambulances.

Now, according to the Telegraph newspaper, the service is likely to be put into special measures after a damning inspection report.

The project, which ran between December 2014 and February 2015, was launched in response to the high pressures it was facing last winter.

Extra time was given to calls which were placed in the second most serious category - these are for issues that may be life threatening but are less time critical.

Due to national standards 75% of these calls have to be dealt with within eight minutes, but under the project the trust gave itself up to 10 extra minutes to re-assess what type of advice or treatment the patients needed and whether an ambulance was required.

Monitor said there was a clear failure of management processes and it appears the trust’s board was not fully aware of the changes.

They said they had concerns about how the trust is being run and how decisions are taken.

Earlier this year, the Care Quality Commission issued a warning notice, after inspectors found a raft of failings, including continued delays in responding to 111 calls.