Ambulance Service urge people to “think twice” before dialling 999 on New Year’s Eve

With the Welsh Ambulance Service gearing up for one of the busiest nights of the year, people are being urged to think twice before dialling 999.

The reminder comes after the service received almost 1,600 calls on Boxing Day – 300 more than usual.

However a number of these calls were not emergencies, with people calling for an ambulance for minor issues such as coughs, colds, stomach pains, back ache and shoulder pain.

The Welsh Ambulance Service say that these calls “tied up some of our ambulances meaning other seriously ill patients waited longer than we would like”.

👇 pic.twitter.com/3Rfhki8ko7

— Welsh Ambulance (@WelshAmbulance) December 31, 2017

Earlier today Richard Lee, director of operations at Welsh Ambulance Service, also tweeted to say: “This is a difficult message for us but we must keep ambulances free for life threatening calls

“Tonight we will have 150 ambulances and cars plus nurses and paramedics on the phone and our fabulous contact centre teams going flat out to save lives.

“Please help us and your communities.”