Stop! Think twice before you dial 999
By Louise Hale
8 February
Tower Hamlets residents are 999-happy as
new figures reveal around one third of calls made to the London
Ambulance Service (LAS) are not life threatening.
Ambulance chiefs are calling on people to
think twice before they dial so paramedics are free to concentrate
on the most urgent cases and save lives.
The warning comes as the service rolls out
the first ever mobile advert campaign to educate patients by using
its ambulances as billboards to take public education messages out
on to the roads.
A picture of a patient being resuscitated
will be carried on vehicles across London to link in with NHS
London’s Choose Well initiative – which highlights the full range
of healthcare options available.
In 2008/09 emergency vehicles attended
31,028 incidents in Tower Hamlets, of which 11,060 – 37 per cent –
were initially categorised as life threatening but turned out not
to be.
Members of the public who do not need
urgent help should assess their medical problem before dialling and
look at more appropriate ways of getting NHS treatment, the service
has said.
Other options include NHS Direct on 0845 46
47, seeing a pharmacist or GP, or visiting a local NHS walk-in
centre, urgent care centre or minor injuries unit.
LAS medical director Fionna Moore said: “We
don’t want to put anyone off from calling us in an emergency, but
it is in everyone’s interests for patients to choose well and use
the right NHS service for their
particular needs.”
Arriving to hospital in an ambulance with a
non-life-threatening condition will not mean that you will be seen
any quicker, she added.
“If people can improve their understanding
and awareness of where they can go for help in their area, then it
will help us to be able to reach those patients with the most
serious illnesses as quickly as possible,” Ms Moore said.