TROUBLEMAKERS made nearly 800 hoax calls to the South West’s stretched ambulance service last year.

In April alone, staff were distracted from real life emergencies 91 times, figures obtained from a Freedom of Information request reveal.

South West Ambulance Service Trust (Swast) received 774 hoax calls in 2017. The number is low compared to the 900,000 calls the service responds to each year, but Swast is struggling to hit response time targets amid increasing pressures on the NHS.

Calls made in good faith which turn out to be unnecessary are not recorded as hoax calls. Those caught faking 999 calls can be locked up for six months or given a fine of up to £5,000.

A Swast spokesman said: “Making hoax calls can put lives at risk. We strongly encourage parents to impress upon their children the importance of only dialling 999 in a genuine emergency situation. 

“It is vital that people understand and appreciate the consequences associated with making hoax calls. We work with the police and other partners to seek the prosecution of people who abuse the 999 system.”

Last year, the average cost of assessing a patient over the phone was £44 for every incident, while the average for a patient treated at the scene was £167. When a patient needed to be taken to hospital the average cost was £261 per incident. The cost of each hoax call is not calculated by Swast.