- ‘Serious problems’ with South Western Ambulance Service’s power supply
- Patients are being urged not to clog the phone lines unless it is life-or-death
- Other ambulance trusts are helping SWAS but resources are already stretched
Patients are being urged to only ring 999 in a ‘life threatening’ emergency after a computer failure sent its operation systems down.
‘Serious problems’ with South Western Ambulance Service’s power supply meant that the service was thrown in chaos.
An SWAS spokesman said: ‘South West Ambulance Service is currently experiencing serious problems with its power supply which is causing issues with the phone lines and computer systems.’
Patients are being urged to only ring 999 in a ‘life threatening’ emergency after a computer failure sent its operation systems down (file image)
They are currently relying on neighbouring trusts to help out with life-or-death emergencies in their region.
However, resources on the emergency services are already hugely stretched, with ambulance bosses are sending cut-price ‘technicians’ to 999 calls instead of paramedics.
They are being dispatched to hundreds of thousands of the most serious emergencies, including heart attacks and seizures.
Technicians wear almost the same uniforms as paramedics – meaning most patients are unlikely to notice the difference – but they have less training and fewer skills.
Technicians wear almost the same uniforms as paramedics – meaning most patients are unlikely to notice the difference – but they have less training and fewer skills
Freedom of Information responses from five of the ten ambulance trusts in England show that they were dispatched to almost 300,000 calls without a paramedic last year.
This included over 155,000 of the most serious ‘red’ calls, where patients’ lives were deemed to be in immediate danger.
The remaining five ambulance trusts refused to respond. But if the trends are similar for all ten, it suggests that ambulance technicians were sent out to around 600,000 calls in total last year.