999 calls from diabetes sufferers always genuine charity warns

The head of a leading diabetes charity has warned that many “non-emergency” calls made by diabetes sufferers are genuine emergencies.

Douglas Smallwood, chief executive of Diabetes UK, said while people with the disease made more than 100,000 emergency calls in the UK last year, all of them were genuine emergencies.

His comments came as the ambulance service in England warned that it was at full stretch dealing with unprecedented levels of calls and was asking people to phone 999 only in cases of genuine emergency.

It said the cold weather in December had lead to a sharp rise in falls and breathing problems and had combined with outbreaks of flu and the winter vomiting bug norovirus to create the high level of demand.

London ambulance workers are handling 1,100 calls about “life-threatening” situations every day, a service spokesman said.

The total number of calls it is receiving every day has risen in the last few weeks from around 3,000 to nearer 4,000.

According to the service, the status of the situation has been elevated from “severe” to “critical”.

Meanwhile some say staff are struggling to cope and are urging people to dial 999 only in a genuine emergency.