Critical incident declared due to extreme pressure on ambulance service

The service asked the community to only call 999 in a life-threatening or serious emergency.

Wednesday 06 April 2022 02:53 BST

South Central Ambulance Service declared a critical incident due to extreme pressure early on Wednesday morning (Dominic Lipinski/PA) (PA Wire)

Your support helps us to tell the story

Support Now

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

South Central Ambulance Service declared a critical incident due to extreme pressure early on Wednesday morning.

“Our staff are working extremely hard to respond to calls and manage the situation and we continue to prioritise those patients with life-threatening injuries and illnesses,” it said on Twitter.

“Declaring a critical incident means we are able to focus our resources on those patients most in need and communicates the pressure we are under to our patients and health system partners.”

The service asked the community to only call 999 in a life-threatening or serious emergency.

Stay up to date with notifications from The Independent

Thank you for registering

Critical incident declared due to extreme pressure on ambulance service

The service asked the community to only call 999 in a life-threatening or serious emergency.

Thank you for registering