PARAMEDICS are reminding people to only call 999 in an emergency and to use other more appropriate services for less urgent conditions.

It is estimated that one in ten calls to ambulance control are from ‘frequent callers’ taking up over 200 hours a day of vital emergency team’s time – putting a huge strain on the South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SWASFT).  

Across the South West over the past year, there have been 15 court convictions against frequent callers who have abused the system.  

One was a court order after a woman in Devon made 129 calls in a three-month period to emergency services when none of the calls were to life threatening emergencies.   

Penalties range from criminal behavioural orders, community orders, fines, court injunctions and custodial sentences. 

There are around 2,000 active frequent callers in the ambulance service across the South West, but not all are abusing the system. Most fall into the more vulnerable groups, such as mental health, dementia, drug and alcohol or social care.  

There are also legitimate cases where someone may be at the end of their life or have a complex, ongoing medical condition meaning that frequent access to emergency care is required.  

SWASFT has a dedicated frequent caller team that works with patients and other health care services to manage the demand on the ambulance service.

The circumstances surrounding each individual identified as being a frequent caller are reviewed to ensure support can be put in place to prevent the regular calls.