Highest number of 999 calls in county made from five Shrewsbury addresses

A Freedom of Information request to West Midlands Ambulance service showed a total of 562 calls to 999 or 111 were made from the five residential addresses between January and December last year.

The service said although the Shropshire figures are slightly down on last year, they are still concerned about the amount of people misusing the service.

One address, which West Midlands Ambulance Service said may have been a care home, called for paramedics 193 times which resulted in 163 trips to hospital. The remainder of the calls were made from private addresses.

The second highest frequent caller dialled the emergency number 110 times and the patient was taken to hospital just 21 times.

Spokesman Jamie Arrowsmith said: "The trust is aware of a number of high volume service users who call the ambulance service on a regular basis.

"Some people do suffer from complex health-related disorders that at times require emergency intervention on a regular basis and although this may appear to be a misuse of resources it is indeed entirely appropriate and embraces the ethos of delivery of high quality patient care."

The trust works closely with the local health economy and social services to put in place care packages that are designed to find alternative solutions for frequent callers.

"In many cases this approach has led to a significant reduction or indeed a complete stop in the need to dial 999," Mr Arrowsmith said

"However, in some cases it is not appropriate for people to continually call the ambulance service. There are many reasons behind these calls, including mental health, chronic pain and alcohol.

"To address these issues, we discuss the patients’ needs with social services, lead consultants, carers, police, community matrons, clinical commissioners and GPs."

Paramedics attended another Shrewsbury address 102 times in just 12 months and only transferred a patient to hospital 10 times. A fourth address made 79 calls which led to 18 trips to hospital and the final house made 75 calls where a patient was taken in 46 times.

Mr Arrowsmith added: "We urge people to use the ambulance service responsibly because the impact misuse has on other people is huge. It’s not just the financial cost, it is the effective removal of ambulances for people who really need them that is obviously a concern."

In 2016 West Midlands Ambulance Service received 270 calls from one address in Shrewsbury. It also took 150 from an address in Telford.