LETTER: Unbelievable 999 call experience

Called 999 and then had to go through a 15 minute interrogation regarding the state of the individual before they would action a response, who was his doctor, did he smell of alcohol, tell him to go to his GP within three days rather than send an ambulance, unbelievable.

It was -2C that night and this poor guy was collapsed on the pavement freezing cold while we had to negotiate whether it was worth sending an ambulance.

If I ever have to call an ambulance again in an emergency I shall just tell them the person is unconscious, maybe that way we’ll get a response in under 45 mins, forget it if you have a heart attack or stroke.

Phil Williams

Oakland Close, Horsham

In response, a spokesman for South East Coast Ambulance Service said.

“SECAmb can confirm that it was called shortly after 7pm on Saturday 6 December to this incident and an ambulance crew attended in just under 30 minutes. We must question callers in order to triage all our calls and this call was upgraded to receive a response within 30 minutes due the adverse weather conditions. We have a duty to prioritise life-threatening emergencies and would like to thank the members of the public for coming to the aid of this patient.”