Region's ambulance service declares 'critical incident'

The south central ambulance service say they had to declare a critical incident earlier this week after a sudden surge in demand threatened to overwhelm them.

In a statement SCAS said:

"We declared a critical incident Tuesday afternoon (16:20) primarily due to an increase in the acuity of patients calling 999. Whilst overall demand is as our models have forecast, we have seen 70% of callers using 999 triaged as either a category 1 or category 2 emergency (which is a higher proportion than expected) meaning more patients require an ambulance response and transport to hospital. This has happened at a time when we are experiencing challenges with handover delays at acute hospitals across our region, which then impacts our ability to respond accordingly.

"Declaring a critical incident means we are able to focus our resources on those patients most in need (those category 1 and 2 patients) and highlights the pressures we are experiencing to our patients and health system partners who can provide support where possible. People calling 999 with lower acuity problems (category 3 and 4 patients) are likely to be advised to seek alternative care in order that we can increase our ambulance availability for patients with life-threatening injuries and illnesses.

"We are asking people to help us at this time by using our services wisely and also utilising other healthcare alternatives including 111.nhs.uk for urgent medical advice and guidance wherever possible and appropriate to do so, as well as urgent treatment centres, pharmacists, and their GPs."

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