North West Ambulance Service declares 'major incident' over high level of calls

Crews are ‘run ragged’, union says

North West Ambulance Service has declared a “major incident” over a high number of calls. 

People were warned they could be asked to make their own way to hospital if their call was not life-threatening, while some patients faced delays. 

There were no signs the surge in demand was linked to coronavirus, a spokesperson for the service said. 

“North West Ambulance Service has declared a major incident due to the high level of activity in the North West region, in particular the Greater Manchester area,” the service said on Monday evening.

“If your call is not life-threatening, you may be asked if you can seek an alternative source of care or make your way to hospital by alternate means," the statement on Facebook said.

Earlier on Monday, North West Ambulance Service said they were “exceptionally busy”.

The Independent understands at one point hundreds of calls were live - which triggered the major incident alert.

The North West Ambulance Service spokesperson said it was declared due to “the high level of calls”. 

West Midlands Ambulance Service has asked staff to volunteer to go to the north west to help out under "mutual aid", The Independent understands. 

A union agreed to suspend meal breaks for local ambulance staff for two hours to deal with the major incident. 

“Please help our crews by only calling if you really need us,” NWAS Unison tweeted on Monday evening. “They are being run ragged at the moment and they will get to you as soon as they can. ”

A North West Ambulance Service spokesperson said on Monday evening some patients were facing delays.

“We are very sorry that we are unable to respond as quickly as we would like,” they said. 

“Please help us by not calling us to check where the ambulance is as we need those lines to be free for those in a life-threatening condition.”

The service directed people needing medical advice to 111 online. 

The spokesperson said it was unclear what was behind the surge in calls on Monday, which is “often a very busy day”.

“There is currently nothing to indicate this increase in calls is in relation to Covid-19,” they said. 

Northwest England continues to see the highest rates of new coronavirus cases in the country, according to the latest available data, which looks at the week ending 28 October. 

Blackburn with Darwen had the highest rate in England with 740.2 cases per 100,000 people.

Oldham is second at 695.5 cases per 100,000, while Wigan is third at 665.1.

At 7.30pm, North West Ambulance Service said it was starting to see a reduction in the number of calls after declaring the major incident around an hour before. 

Additional reporting by Press Association