Falls and chest pains high on 999 calls rise

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New figures have revealed the scale of the demand facing the region's ambulance service following a 21% increase in emergency calls.

The busy start to 2016 continued for the East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust (EEAST) in March, which received more than 98,000 calls - 18,000 more than March 2015.

The most common calls were for falls and patients with breathing difficulties and chest pain.

Bedfordshire saw a 15.66% rise in calls to 9,543.

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Rob Ashford, Acting Director of Service Delivery for EEAST, said: “We continue to face unprecedented demand on our service, which places pressure on everyone in the Trust who are working hard to provide the best possible service to patients.

“We have increased the number of clinicians in our control rooms to give medical advice and ensure that we are sending ambulance staff to life-threatening and serious medical emergencies.

“We are also planning to hire hundreds of extra staff and the first phase of our recruitment campaign to recruit 150 associate ambulance practitioners (AAP) began last week.”

The Trust launched It’s your call earlier this year.

The campaign provides information about which NHS service to call for their needs, what happens when they call 999, and what to expect.

“The material includes two posters, a business card-sized reminder, and a video at one of the region’s control rooms.

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