Welsh Ambulance Service: Wobbly tooth, sore throat, and a 999 call, really?
The Welsh Ambulance Service has revealed that more than one in seven 999 calls it received last year were not appropriate for an emergency ambulance response.
Of the 414,118 incidents handled by the service, 62,454 calls, around 15 per cent, were classed as non-emergencies.
Examples released by the Trust include calls about a wobbly tooth, a sore throat, ointment in an eye and someone who had swallowed a small amount of mouthwash.
Other calls included a fishing hook stuck in a finger, an earphone lodged in an ear and a caller seeking help to see a dentist after a tooth broke the previous week.
The Trust said its staff are trained to deal with life-threatening situations and that inappropriate calls can delay care for patients in urgent need.
Andy Swinburn, Executive Director of Paramedicine at the Welsh Ambulance Service, said: “Our highly skilled staff are trained to deal with situations where immediate interventions are required because of the severity of a person’s condition.
“That’s things such as cardiac arrest, chest pain, breathing difficulties, loss of consciousness, choking, catastrophic bleeding and stroke.
“When people call 999 for things like a sore throat, it takes up the valuable time of our call handlers and clinicians, who could be helping patients with a genuine emergency who urgently us.
“Our message is simple – apply your common sense and help us protect our precious resources for those who need us most.”
Lee Brooks, Executive Director of Operations, said many of the calls highlighted did not require an ambulance and could be dealt with elsewhere.
“All of the calls highlighted today did not require an ambulance and could have been managed by a more appropriate service,” he said.
“In fact, people with these conditions will no longer be seen in-person by us at all under our new clinical model – instead, they’ll get advice over the phone, allowing us to prioritise and improve our response for patients having heart attacks and strokes.”
He added: “This is not about placing blame, but we do need people to take responsibility for how and when services are used.
“The ambulance service, like emergency departments, exists for urgent and life-threatening situations, and is not intended for routine illnesses or injuries.
“Calling 999 does not automatically mean an ambulance will be sent, just as arriving at hospital by ambulance does not mean you’ll be seen more quickly.”
The Trust is urging people in Wales to use alternatives such as NHS 111 Wales for advice, pharmacies for minor ailments, and minor injury units for less serious injuries.
The following are real 999 calls made to the ambulance service in the past year:
Call 1
Operator: Is the patient breathing?
Caller: Yeah, I’m the patient. I was gargling with mouthwash to try to get rid of my flu, and a drop of the mouthwash went down my throat.
Call 2
Operator: Ambulance, what’s the address of the emergency?
Caller: What I’ve got is a molar tooth which has come out its socket tonight. It’s hanging on by a thread.
Call 3
Operator: Tell me exactly what’s happened.
Caller: He was sorting out his fishing equipment and a fishing hook has gone right through his finger, and there’s no way I can get it out.
Call 4
Operator: Ambulance service, what’s the full address of the emergency?
Caller: She was cleaning her ear with a Q-tip and I think she pushed it a bit far.
Call 5
Operator: Tell me exactly what’s happened.
Caller: He got a little cut but he feels dizzy and light-headed. It’s not a big cut, it’s a small cut, but he feels dizzy and he’s sweating a lot.
Call 6
Caller: He was listening with his headphones on a phone, and the end’s come off and gone in his ear.
Operator: Right, so there’s an earphone stuck in his ear, is that correct?
Caller: Well, he claims, yeah.
Call 7
Operator: Tell me exactly what’s happened.
Caller: I’ve just applied ointment under my eye. Maybe the ointment ran inside my eye and now I’m unable to open my eye. My eyeball hurts.
Call 8
Operator: Tell me exactly what’s happened.
Caller: Basically, I’ve just woke up and I can’t swallow or nothing. It’s my throat, it’s killing me.
Call 9
Operator: Is the patient breathing?
Caller: Yeah, he’s breathing. What it is, he’s fired a nail gun, and the nail went into the tip of his finger.
Operator: Is there any serious bleeding?
Caller: Not yet.
Call 10
Operator: Tell me exactly what’s happened.
Caller: I’ve kicked a wall and I think I’ve broken a few of my toes. I’m in absolute agony at the minute.
Call 11
Caller: What I really need is a dentist.
Operator: What’s happened to your tooth?
Caller: My tooth is broken, it’s gone.
Operator: When did that happen?
Caller: It happened last week. I don’t want to waste your services. All I want is to be able to see a dentist in the morning.
The ambulance service has said ‘minor edits’ have been made to the transcripts to protect patient confidentiality.
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