Busiest week on record for south-west's ambulance service

Devon's ambulance service has seen a big increase in demand following the easing of lockdown restrictions – and has had its busiest week on record.

The South Western Ambulance Service responded to 22,041 incident during the seven days up to Sunday, July 4.

Since early May when some of the restrictions were relaxed, it has dealt with more than 20,000 incidents every week, compared with 18,500 per week in early April.

A South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SWASFT) spokesperson said: "Our service is currently experiencing very high demand, which means we must prioritise critically ill patients.

"We are asking the public only to call 999 in a genuine medical emergency when somebody is seriously injured or ill and their life is at risk, and for other medical concerns we encourage patients to contact NHS 111 for advice and support."

People who do call an ambulance are also being asked not to ring back again to ask for an estimated arrival time – they should only call back if the patient's condition worsens, or if they no longer need the service's help.