THE ambulance service that operates across Reading and Wokingham has declared a critical incident as Storm Eunice makes its presence felt.
Demand on its 999 service and travel disruption is leading to higher demand on South Central Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SCAS)’s operations.
As a result, patients are facing longer times for emergency call-outs, impacting its response times.
Staff at SCAS want people to call NHS 111 if possible.
And to help with demand, it has requested off-duty staff come in to help out, as well as volunteer community first responders and co-responders, while additional vehicles are being deployed.
SCAS hopes that once the worst of Storm Eunice has passed the South Central region, the level of demand will fall to expected seasonal levels and, with travel disruption reducing, the critical incident can be stood down.
Paul Jefferies, SCAS’s assistant director of operations, said: “Declaring a critical incident allows us to seek further support from our partners, and alerts the wider healthcare system to our existing challenges brought about by Storm Eunice in reaching patients as quickly as we would like.
“We will continue to focus on reaching those patients with life-threatening or serious injuries and illnesses first, and unfortunately there will be unavoidable delays in getting to those patients with less urgent needs for which we apologise in advance.
“We would ask such patients to help us by seeking alternative treatment or advice via NHS 111 online or by calling 111, local urgent care centres or speaking to your GP or local pharmacist.”
