Islanders ring 999 for runny noses, grazes and hangovers

Islanders ring 999 for runny noses, grazes and hangovers

The service’s senior managers say that ambulance crews are busier than ever and managing the increasing workload is being made even harder by inappropriate calls. During a 24-hour period at the end of last month, the service received 41 calls, including 13 to potentially life-threatening incidents. It would normally receive between 20 to 25 call outs a day.

Gordon Hunt, operations manager, said that large red stickers had been put on the side of their vehicles stating that paramedics should only be called for serious emergencies, such as cardiac arrests, severe bleeding, chest pains or strokes.

‘We do get a lot of calls about people suffering from less severe symptoms which they might be able to deal with by visiting their GP, through self-help or by visiting a pharmacist,’ he said.

‘These include minor graze injuries, minor stomach pain, back pain, sore throats, earache, a runny nose, coughs, colds, symptoms of hangover and assistance with medication when people have run out of their prescription.

‘Pharmacists are trained experts and can deliver a great package of care but are heavily under-utilised.’

Mr Hunt added that cold temperatures in March had led to a spike in calls from people suffering from breathing difficulties but described the one-day spike at the end of April as ‘random’.

Despite the high number of calls, Mr Hunt said that crews were able to respond to most of their category-A high-priority calls within their target times and did not need to call on other emergency services to help.

He also said that two new ambulance technicians were due to start shortly and another post for the same role was still waiting to be filled. They are also looking to recruit three trained paramedics.

‘We have a target of eight minutes for our highest priority emergencies and there were a couple we missed slightly but it did not have a detrimental effect on any of the patients,’ he said.

‘Because of the way we roster our crews we actually had an extra crew on during the morning.

‘We also had a duty senior officer at home with a response car and we could have called them in if we needed to.’

In February last year the JEP reported that the Ambulance Service was being ‘stretched to the limit’ around once a week – on one occasion receiving 18 calls within three and a half hours. The rise was attributed to a growing and ageing population.

So far this year, the service has already taken 2,970 emergency calls compared to 2,745 by the same time last year.

Mr Hunt added: ‘There has been a general uplift in call volumes since last year, it is not isolated to Jersey it is a national phenomenon.’

‘Considering we only have three ambulances on during the day and two during the night there is quite a lot for us to deal with.’

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