THE NATIONAL AMBULANCE SERVICE has made a request to the public to keep calls using the 999 number strictly for near-fatal emergencies.
Paramedics have spoken out about the troubling amount of calls they have had to respond to, which didn't involve any serious emergency services at all.
According to The Irish Times, paramedics have had calls from a woman who couldn't get her wellies off despite telling the phone operator she was 'trapped', a man with sunburn, a man who had gotten his hand stuck while playing with a mouse trap, a person with a broken fingernail, and a caller who thought their house was haunted.
In the past, one ambulance crew rushed to scene where a person was in cardiac arrest, however upon arrival, they found it was a dog having a stoppage of blood flow. Another crew were told there was a 14-year-old in labour, and after being dispatched to the family, it was a dog in labour.
Health organiser for SIPTU, Paul Bell commented on people abusing the services ambulances and paramedics provide:
"I have had crews in peak time responding to what turns out to be a cut from shaving... some people think they will be treated first if they go to hospital in an ambulance. That is not true because the triage system (accident and emergency) works whatever way you arrive at them"
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