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East of England Ambulance Service hit by 999 system failure

EEAST Don't Hang Up posterEEAST
The East of England Ambulance Service has put appeals on social for 999 callers not to hang up

An ambulance service has said its 999 call service "experienced a failure" on Wednesday afternoon.

East of England Ambulance Service Trust (EEAST) said emergency calls were "rerouted to neighbouring services".

The NHS trust said its national contingency plan was put in place after the failure was noted at 14:30 GMT.

"We liaised with other blue-light services to ensure they were aware and could contact us by other means," it said in a statement.

The trust said its call-handling system, which was now back up and running, had gone down for about one hour.

Glenn Carrington, of the union Unison, said: "It was quiet a challenging time for the crews and staff, exasperated by the hospital delays and waiting times."

Unison officer Glenn Carrington
Unison officer Glenn Carrington said the 999 system went off-line for about two or three hours

Mr Carrington said the pressure on the service "was the worst" he had ever known in his 37-year NHS career.

"We do not have the infrastructure to deal with what is happening now, and that's before the winter flu, croups, coughs and winter vomiting virus hits," he said.

The union official said he was concerned about the lack of personnel available to fulfil the numerous roles vacant.

"At the end of the day we're short of staff, short of beds, short of paramedics, short of doctors and nurses - completely and utterly short," he added.

On Tuesday, the ambulance service urged 999 callers to not hang up as "there may be a delay before we pick up".

Marcus Bailey
Marcus Bailey, East of England Ambulance Service chief operating officer, said the service was very busy

EEAST said demands on the health service meant it was extremely busy.

Marcus Bailey, EEAST chief operating officer, said delays were due to a "combination" of Covid, winter pressures and recruitment.

He said the service planned to recruit 100 call-handlers over the next few months to help ease pressure.

The trust has been under intense pressure over recent weeks. Last month, a patient suffered a fatal heart attack in the back of an ambulance after it queued for more than two hours outside a Norfolk hospital.

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