Frequent callers — those who ring 999 at least five times a month — are said to cost the health service almost £19m a year Rui Vieira/PAA single patient reportedly called the ambulance service almost ten times a day over the course of a year. The UK’s five most frequent callers accounted for a total of 8,303 emergency calls, an investigation by the BBC found. One individual rang the London Ambulance Service 3,594 times — the equivalent of 69 times a week during the 12-month period from November 2016. Paul Jefferies, assistant director of operations at South Central Ambulance Service, told the BBC that 10 per cent of calls they receive are from frequent callers. He said: “If the ambulance, or the response vehicle, is being deployed to that patient who we know is a frequent caller, it means that a resource might not be available for a potential cardiac arrest.”

Source: The Times March 07, 2018 09:00 UTC