SOUTH Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SWASFT) is reminding people ahead of the Christmas holidays to help manage the demand by only calling 999 in an emergency.
SWASFT urge people to use other appropriate services such as the AA or a GP for less urgent conditions.
Abusing the ambulance service by calling unnecessarily, can result in criminal behavioural orders, community orders, fines, court injunctions and custodial sentences. During 2017, across the South West patch, there have been 23 court convictions against frequent callers.
Dr Simon Scott-Hayward, medical director primary care, for SWASFT, said:
“Callers can be found guilty of abusing the system and causing annoyance, inconvenience or anxiety through the Misuse of Communications Act for repeated inappropriate calls to 999 services. We seek prosecutions of people found to be abusing the system because it can, and does put other people’s lives at risk.”
A frequent caller is defined nationally as an adult who makes 5 or more emergency calls related to individual episodes of care in a month.
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