News

Hoax and inappropriate ambulance calls still a problem

By Becky Barnes
January 04, 2013

A spotty bottom, requests for cigarettes and ‘too tired to walk home’ are just some of the reasons people have called an ambulance in the last month.

South Central Ambulance Service (SCAS) deals with hundreds of hoax or inappropriate calls every year but did see a reduction in the first half of this year following its viral campaign ‘Misuse Costs Lives’, launched in January.

As the service prepares to relaunch the campaign in the New Year it revealed the number of inappropriate calls dropped from 760 from July to December 2011 to 661 between January and June this year.

In Wokingham there were eight hoax or inappropriate calls in the second part of 2011 and three in the first part of 2012.

But inappropriate calls are still flooding in and calls logged in the past month include someone calling 999 to ask for cigarettes to be delivered.

An SCAS spokesman added: “A couple of weeks ago we sent an ambulance to a school as they were worried a child was going blue – he had paint on him.”

Other recent 999 calls include a man who had a big pimple on his bottom who was passed on to NHS Direct and another who called to ask the crew to switch his hall light off.

An ambulance crew called to a woman in her 30s with chest pains found she just wanted a lift home and a man became abusive when a crew refused to take him from the job centre to hospital to get a sick note.

Paul Jefferies, an area manager for South Central Ambulance Service and a highly experienced paramedic with over 18 years service, said: “This misuse takes vital resources away from people in life-threatening situations. If you or someone from your family is in cardiac arrest you want to know that emergency care is going to be with you as quickly as possible. However, we have been called miles away to pass someone paracetamol from a table.”

Each ambulance call out costs on average £257 while hoax or inappropriate calls make resources unavailable to genuine life-threatening medical emergencies.

People with non-life threatening injuries or illness can call NHS Direct on 0845 46 47, or call the out-of-hours GP service, consult a pharmacist, or visit A&E or minor injuries.

To view a video about how ‘Misuse Costs Lives’ visit www.youtube.com/watch?v=0de4RQn91Cs.

| Submit Comments | View Comments (5)

« Previous Story | Next Story »

Most recent user comments 5 of 5

re DX C

Would be interested to know the views of 999 operators on that one. But as there have been many media campaigns in the past to little effect it would seem maybe we are approaching punishment.

Basically these wasters are putting lives at risk and indeed have cost lives in the past.

Ossie, wokingham
04/01/2013 at 17:03

To play devil's advocate, presumably a lot of these calls from people of low intellectual ability, and education rather than punishment is the only reasonable way to address it.

DX C
04/01/2013 at 16:04

One thought about these waste of spaces.

Keep 999 calls free but if abused then the 999 operator can raise an automatic charge of say £50 against the balance on their phone/phone bill.

If we can donate by text then presumably the technology is also there to fine them on the spot.

If nothing else it will restrict calls to public call boxes where this can't be applied, but then again most of them are under CCTV surveillance and where there's a will there's a way.

Ossie, wokingham
04/01/2013 at 13:17

...and be neutered.

Damiano_Tommassi, Wokingham
04/01/2013 at 11:30

They should be made to pay the cost of the call out in these cases!

Would make them think twice about calling for inappropriate reasons such as turning off a hall liht or delivering cigarettes mentioned in article and wasting paramedics time and resources.