The ambulance service covering Brighton and Hove said today that it was struggling with high demand and pleaded for genuine emergency calls only.
South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust said that the significant demand currently “is affecting its ability to respond quickly to 999 emergencies”.
Its website said: “The trust, which has seen a 10 per cent increase in demand compared to last year, is calling on the public to think carefully about whether they need to call for an ambulance or whether they can seek alternative assistance from other healthcare providers.”
The trust’s on-call strategic incident commander Richard Webber said: “We are currently receiving a high volume of emergency 999 calls which we are struggling to reach in a timely manner.
“This means that for certain emergencies, some patients can expect to wait longer for an ambulance as we focus our efforts on responding to calls which are deemed life-threatening.
“The public can help us by avoid calling us for non-life-threatening emergencies and seek alternative treatment from other healthcare providers or if you do require hospital treatment look to make your own way there.”
The trust said: “We’d like to remind people to only dial 999 in the event of a serious emergency and remember the other options available, such as calling NHS 111, which we run in partnership across Kent, Surrey and Sussex with Care UK.”
When to call 999 – If a patient is suffering from one of the following, it is vital to dial 999 for an ambulance
• heart attack (eg, chest pain for more than 15 minutes)
• sudden unexplained shortness of breath
• heavy bleeding
• unconsciousness (even if the patient has regained consciousness)
• traumatic back/spinal/neck pain
And people should also call for an ambulance if
• you think the patient’s illness or injury is life-threatening
• you think the illness or injury may become worse or even life-threatening on the way to the hospital
• moving the patient/s without skilled people could cause further injury
• the patient needs the skills or equipment of the ambulance service and its personnel
