Man calls 999 for coat left on bus

Fire officer Rob McDonagh, ambulance technician Sue Richardson and PC Darren Prince promote 999 Day.

'I've left my coat on the bus', 'I haven't got any credit on my mobile', 'The bookmakers won't pay out', 'There's a car blocking the road', 'People are drawing with chalk on the pavement'; these are some of the 'emergencies' given by callers who dialled 999 in Greater Manchester.

Today Greater Manchester's emergency services have launched 999 day (the ninth day of the ninth month of 2009), to remind people how and when to dial 999 and highlight the importance of providing the correct information.

Greater Manchester Police, Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service and North West Ambulance Service receive an average of 6,300 calls per day.

Call handlers have to establish the nature of an emergency call and then direct it accordingly – offering support and advice. These calls are taken under what are often extremely stressful and challenging circumstances.

Over the years the number of people ringing 999 from their mobile phones has overtaken the amount ringing from their landline and this makes it even more crucial that detailed information is provided.

A call handler needs to know what and where the incident is happening in a split second. The public can help reduce the time taken for help to arrive and for arrests to be made by providing information such as landmarks, street names and details of the offender if known.

999 Day has also been launched to appeal to the public to only ring 999 in a real emergency as tying up the lines unnecessarily puts people’s lives at risk and could delay someone in need of urgent help getting through.

Greater Manchester Police asks that 999 should only be used in an emergency where there is a threat to life or a crime in progress. People should ring 0161 872 5050 for anything that’s not an emergency or to report a crime, and to ring their Neighbourhood Policing Team with any concerns about crime and anti-social behaviour in their local area.
GMP’s head of call handling Superintendent Karan Lee said: “Our call handlers deal with emergency situations constantly and they are highly trained to provide advice and reassurance, while at the same time getting the information needed to deal with the situation effectively. The public can really help us by providing detailed information about what is happening and where.”

As with calls made to GMP, it is important that any caller who rings the ambulance service can give as much information as possible as to the whereabouts and the condition of the patient.

Once the location is established, call-takers will take callers through a standard set of questions, which are nationally approved – the purpose of these is to ascertain how ill the patient is and what type of response is suitable. While the caller is answering these questions, the call-taker will have located the nearest available ambulance and depending on the response required, it will be making its way to the incident.

Although it can seem frustrating to be guided through these, it is vital that ambulance crews have some idea of the nature of illness or injury before they arrive. For certain conditions such as cardiac arrest, the call-taker will guide the caller through how to administer chest compressions until the ambulance arrives, giving the patient a greater chance of survival.

Ged Blezard, Area Head of North West Ambulance Service said: “People know there can be a wait to be seen in accident and emergency rooms and there is the misconception that arriving at a hospital by ambulance will ensure you are quickly seen by a doctor. This is not the case at all – all of our patients, except in severe life-threatening situations, are still triaged by a nurse and are prioritised in the same way as someone who has arrived of their own accord.

“We would ask anyone to call us for any emergency but also to consider using other pathways of care such as NHS Direct, the local walk-in centre, GP or even their local pharmacy – this will enable us to provide a more effective response to life-threatening emergencies.”

Tony Ciaramella, Assistant County Fire Officer (Operations) for Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service said: “Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service responds to a great variety of incidents when answering 999 emergency calls- but a small minority of people abuse that service, and call the emergency services to hoax incidents. We would appeal to anyone making a hoax call, remember an emergency vehicle can’t be in two places at once – hoax calls cost lives!”