Bizarre calls made to the Welsh Ambulance Service's 999 line

According to the service, of the nearly half a million incidents recorded by 999 operators last year, almost a fifth were non-urgent.

Now, to raise awareness the Welsh ambulance trust released transcripts of some of the calls they have received.

Lost keys

Operator: Ambulance service, what’s the full address of the emergency?

Caller: Hi, I’m sorry, I don’t know who else to call. My keys have gone. Basically, I’ve gone out and someone’s took my keys or something. I can’t find my keys. I just want to get in.

Operator: Do you require an ambulance?

Caller: I just want someone to open my door please.

Operator: Unfortunately, we don’t help with getting keys to open your door. We’re unable to send you an ambulance.

Caller: You are s**t. I need someone to f*****g help me open my f*****g door.

Operator: Unfortunately, we are an ambulance service.

Caller: F**k off, you ugly c**t.

Bleeding nail

Operator: Ambulance service, what’s the full address of the emergency?

Caller: Hello, I cut my finger and it cut a bit off the nail and it keeps bleeding.

Operator: Tell me exactly what’s happened.

Caller: I cut part of my nail. The rest of the finger is completely fine. I’m not sure if [I should be] calling a taxi to hospital. That’s why I called the emergency number.”

Inhalers

Operator: Ambulance service, what’s the full address of the emergency please?

Caller: I’m out of inhalers and I can’t last until Monday.

Operator: Sorry?

Caller: I need new inhalers.

Operator: We can arrange an ambulance response for you if that’s what you require, but we’re unable to arrange medications.

Caller: I do require an ambulance – to go and see about the medication.

Swollen finger

Operator: Tell me exactly what’s happened there.

Caller: Her finger is really swollen. It’s really bad. Yeah, she needs this ring drilled off. I’ll see the ambulance when they come down. How long is the ambulance, sorry?

Operator: When did this happen?

Caller: It’s been a while. She’s had it for a while.

Operator: Is there any way you can arrange your own transport to hospital?

Caller: No, we’re all kind of drunk at the minute. No-one can drive.

Operator: Can you arrange a taxi?

Caller: Erm, I can probably ring one for her yeah.

'I need to be sick'

Operator: Ambulance service, what’s the full address of the emergency?

Caller: Yes, hiya, I’m trying to open my house door but my housemate isn’t opening the door but I’m trying to go home and trying to go to sleep but they’re out and they’re not coming home any time soon. It’s an emergency because I need to be sick and I need to go to the toilet.

Operator: OK, so do you require an emergency ambulance?

Caller: Erm, not an emergency ambulance. I think I can be sick in a bin?

Operator: We can’t just come to let you in the house unfortunately. Do you require an emergency ambulance for a medical reason?

Caller: Not an emergency reason but I can’t get into my house to be sick.

Operator: Are you on your own at the moment are you?

Caller: Right now, yes, and it’s actually starting to rain.

Hair dye

Caller: Tell me exactly what’s happened there.

Operator: I got hair dye in my eye around 7 o’clock. I phoned the advice line, they got back to me around 8. They told me to rinse my eye out again, so I did that again, and it still hurts.

Caller: So it’s hair dye in your eye?

What the ambulance service says

Chief Executive Jason Killens said: “Our ambulance service exists to help people who are seriously ill or injured, or where there is an immediate threat to their life.

“That’s people who’ve stopped breathing, people with chest pain or breathing difficulties, loss of consciousness, choking, severe allergic reactions, catastrophic bleeding or someone who is having a stroke.

“Some callers in the last year had no clinical need whatsoever – they’d lost their house keys.

“Our paramedics and technicians are highly educated professionals who are skilled in emergency care, but locksmiths, they are not."

The Trust is asking people to educate themselves about the alternatives to 999.