South Central Ambulance under 'immense pressure' with thousands of 999 calls daily
SCAS say they are busy as they usually are at New Year's
South Central Ambulance Service says they are currently experiencing 'immense pressure'.
South Central Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SCAS) says demand on 999 and 111 services is at levels normally seen during the busy New Year period.
SCAS provides emergency and urgent care to more than four million people in four counties including Hampshire and Berkshire.
The service is is currently receiving almost 2,000 calls a day to 999 at a time it would normally see around 1,600.
The number of calls to urgent medical advice line NHS 111 are at more than 4,500 a day – up from 3,000 a day pre-pandemic.
SCAS say they are also experiencing an increase in the time taken to hand patients over to hospitals.
Mark Ainsworth, Director of Operations at SCAS says the demand has been largely unrelated to coronavirus:
“The Trust is experiencing immense pressure on services due to intense demand on both 999 and 111, while capacity issues at some of our hospitals are impacting on our ability to handover our patients immediately upon arrival which restricts our ability to respond to waiting patients in a timely manner.
“Our activity is now well above the seasonal predicted level and is more in line with the numbers we would be seeing over the busy New Year period when dealing with winter illnesses, consequences of festivities and people who have delayed accessing healthcare over Christmas.
“We are also now at a point where staff have been flat out managing the effects of the pandemic for 18 months, so they are feeling the strain in the face of relentless pressure.”
“The surge in demand has so far not been associated with COVID, so any increase in cases of the infection is a concern given how that may impact us further and we are now seeing rising numbers across the region, particularly in Reading, Portsmouth and Southampton.”
“We will continue to provide the best possible care to all of our patients but we would appreciate any efforts people can make to think carefully about alternatives available for less urgent problems.
“There are still many occasions when we receive calls from patients who could have their needs met through urgent treatment centres or their GPs, sometimes even pharmacies, so we would greatly appreciate the support of the public while we manage this period of intensity.”
SCAS say a number of actions have been taken to increase capacity to meet demand.
This includes the redeployment of clinically-trained staff into frontline operational roles, training additional staff to work in the 111 call centre and additional resources from approved private ambulance providers.
We are being urged to only use 999 for life-threatening emergencies and 111 for urgent medical advice.
There are other services you can use to get medical advice and treatment including nhs.co.uk, urgent treatment centres, GPs and pharmacies.