The Department of Health’s Ambulance Service is launching a campaign to raise awareness of the role the public have in choosing appropriate health care services, with a particular focus on reducing the number of non-emergency 999 calls requesting an ambulance. Like ambulance services in the UK, the Isle of Man’s Ambulance Service is witnessing an increase in 999 calls that are not for emergency care but for urgent care. The Choose Well campaign aims to provide information on urgent care services that are available Island wide. A leaflet has been produced to provide the public with information on where urgent care services can be found, together with some of the treatments that they provide. Minister for Health, David Anderson MHK said, “No one should ever be put off seeking medical assistance when it is required. What is important though, is that the public understand when it is appropriate to call an ambulance by dialling 999 and when it’s not. Our Ambulance Service exists to deal with medical emergencies, for situations where a speedy response by highly trained medical professionals can mean the difference between life and death. Every inappropriate 999 call can result in an Ambulance and a Paramedic being tied up delivering non-emergency care at a time when a call comes in for a real life-threatening emergency, where the Ambulance and Paramedic’s intervention would make all the difference.” The Department of Health and pharmacies offer a number of services that the public can access for urgent and non-urgent care. These include: · Accident and Emergency Department at Noble’s Hospital (24 hours a day, 365 days a year) · Minor Injuries Unit at Ramsey and District Cottage Hospital – available to residents Island-wide (8am to 8pm, 365 days a year) · Manx Emergency Doctor Service (MEDS) (6pm to 8am Monday to Friday and 24 hours a day at weekend and on public holidays) · GP Surgeries (Monday to Friday, working hours vary, MEDS available out of hours) · Pharmacies (usually Monday – Saturday, opening hours vary. A rota is operated for services on Sundays and public holidays) Chief Ambulance Officer Steve Sieling added, “Clearly we do not want to deter anyone from telephoning 999 in an emergency where an ambulance resource will be despatched without delay, but we are finding that more and more people are contacting us for minor injuries or ailments that could be dealt with by self care or which would be more appropriately dealt with by other areas of the health service. “Our prime objective for this campaign is to keep ambulance resources free to attend to life threatening emergencies where we have a 75% target to have a trained ambulance responder on scene within eight minutes of being despatched. Here on the Island we fare well in comparison with our UK colleagues and have the advantage of close working partnerships within Health and Social Care, as well as our invaluable close working arrangements with volunteer organisations (St John Ambulance, Red Cross) and other emergency services. This initiative is something everyone can assist with, so please pick up one of the Choose Well leaflets which have been distributed around the Island and find out what services are on offer in your own locality.” The leaflets are available from the Department of Health’s website, Pharmacies, GP Surgeries, Ramsey and District Cottage Hospital, Noble’s Hospital, and Ambulance HQ, with all of the service areas detailed having been involved in providing information for the campaign and leaflets. - ENDS -