Stop turning up to A&E with 'stubbed toes' because you can't get a GP appointment, urges paramedic

A North West paramedic is urging people not to call 999 for unnecessary reasons as the emergency service faces huge pressures amid high temperatures. The NHS issued a national warning ahead of the heatwave asking hospitals to take ‘immediate steps’ to reduce ambulance waiting times outside A&E departments to under 30 minutes, amid warnings of ‘high risk to patients’ during the hot weather.

Response times to 999 callers and handover times when patients are delivered to hospital via ambulance have been hit by demand over the last year. But North West Ambulance Service ( NWAS ) admitted last week that response times would get worse as the weather warmed, patients with less urgent complaints would likely be waiting much longer.

Likewise, A&Es across Greater Manchester have too warned that they were already full before the mercury climbed - the Royal Bolton Hospital, for example, warning of waiting times of more than four hours. That means that when patients get brought in via ambulance, demand on doctors and for inpatient beds is already outstripping capacity.

READ MORE:'If you collapse on the way call 999 again': The emergency patients left waiting in agony for ambulances

One reason the system is so pressured is the sheer volume of calls to 999 that are not life-threatening emergencies, according to one North West Ambulance Service paramedic. Another reason, says the paramedic, it that patients battled medical issues through the pandemic which they are now seeking help for in their droves - having worsened in the meantime - GPs cannot meet demand.

“It's just incredibly busy,” said the paramedic.

“People don’t want to wait for a GP appointment so end up going to A&E. And people are still coming in now with stubbed toes,