999 staff get right to refuse call-outs

Those are all reasons Dorset people have dialled 999 for an ambulance.

But soon ambulance staff will no longer be forced to send out ambulances for "inappropriate calls" following the announcement of new government measures.

From October patients with non-urgent conditions may receive treatment at home or from other healthcare providers instead.

Tony Savill, Dorset Ambulance NHS Trust spokesman said: "We've all had calls for toothache, calls for people with flu - that's a classic one.

"We get calls from people too drunk to get home and the taxi won't take them. We had a phone call from somebody last year who wanted us to pass his mobile phone number on to his wife in case she had any problems. He didn't have any credit on his phone.

"And there was a lady who wanted a hand getting on to her electric scooter to go to B&Q.

"Until October we will have to send an ambulance if we are told they need some form of care and it is not a completely inappropriate call.

"But after October this year we will have the option of looking at more suitable responses.

"Hopefully this will mean fewer people going into casualty and more people treated at home or by a more appropriate service.

"It means a bit more freedom for us to deal with things more appropriately."

Currently performance requirements for ambulances dealing with non-urgent 999 lowest category calls are set and monitored at a national level.

But from October 1 local NHS organisations will have responsibility for managing and monitoring how local services respond to these types of call.

Until recently ambulance staff had no choice but to send out ambulances no matter how trivial the complaint.

One in four calls to Dorset Ambulance NHS Trust are non-emergency calls.

The trust became the first outside London to implement the "no-send" policy on April 5.

The policy gave it the power to refuse ambulances for non-medical-related calls.

First published: August 20