Emergency Calls At Record Levels In England

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Main Category: Public Health
Also Included In: Alcohol / Addiction / Illegal Drugs
Article Date: 20 Dec 2008 - 0:00 PDT

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Ambulance services are struggling to cope with a record number of calls this month. From Monday 8th December to Sunday 14th December, the London Ambulance service dealt with 31,833 calls and attended 20,989 emergency incidents.

Jason Killens, Assistant Director of Operations, London Ambulance Service said "Last week was the busiest in our history and we also know that there will be a lot of office parties taking place this week which will no doubt lead to a further increase in demand - especially with calls relating to alcohol. We need to prioritise patients who really need our help - those who have a potentially life-threatening condition, as well as the elderly and patients with chronic conditions.

"Anyone with a more minor illness or injury - or who wakes up on Saturday feeling a little worse for wear - should think about using other healthcare options, such as their local pharmacist or NHS walk-in centre, or call NHS Direct. Or if people need to go to hospital for non-emergency treatment, they should consider using a taxi or get a lift with a friend or family member - going in an ambulance does not mean you will get seen any quicker."

The London Ambulance Service said it has what is known as a Booze Bus which operates in central London. The vehicle is run by three members of staff who can take groups of people to hospital, instead of sending multiple ambulances. A team of ambulance staff is also based at Liverpool Street station, working with approximately 20 St. John Ambulance volunteers across the weekend to treat patients with minor illnesses and injuries - both organizations also have vehicles assigned to deal with alcohol-related calls in the City.

Several ambulance services around the country say they are struggling to deal with genuine emergency 999 calls. The North West has never dealt with so many calls before.

Various parts of England have experienced their coldest December in several decades. As a result, there are significantly more numbers of serious falls, cases of flu and the winter vomiting bug norovirus.

Several layers of the National Health Service (NHS) are at saturation point; putting pressure on hospital beds, while ambulances have slowed down as they need to offload patients and then move on to new incidents.

Sources - London Ambulance Service, Department of Health, BBC.

Written by Christian Nordqvist
Copyright: Medical News Today
Not to be reproduced without permission of Medical News Today

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