South Western Ambulance service stand down critical incident

South Western Ambulance Service have stood down their critical incident, which they declared on Wednesday 28 December.

Strategic Commander Rich Marlow says it follows a review of key criteria, including the number of patients waiting for an ambulance.

However, he says that they still remain under "significant pressure" and is urging people to continue to use 999 appropriately.

"Following a review of key criteria, including the number of patients waiting for an ambulance, the command structure at SWASFT has taken the decision to stand down the Critical Incident which has been in place since Wednesday 28 December.

"Whilst this is positive news I cannot stress enough that the service still remains under significant pressure and it is therefore crucial that we maintain our focus over the coming days and weeks to prevent further pressure on the service.

"I would like to thank the public for taking on board the need to only call 999 in life-threatening or serious emergencies requiring our immediate assistance over the New Year period.

"To ensure that our control rooms teams and emergency responders can continue to respond to patients where there is a life or death emergency, I would urge everyone to continue using 999 appropriately as many people have done over the weekend."

Hear all the latest news from across the UK on the hour, every hour, on Greatest Hits Radio on DAB, smartspeaker, at greatesthitsradio.co.uk, and on the Rayo app.

• south western ambulance service