The London Ambulance Service is experiencing an unprecedented surge in emergency calls following a global IT outage affecting NHS services across the capital.
In a statement issued this afternoon, Chief Executive of London Ambulance Service Daniel Elkeles said: “Following the global IT outage that has impacted some NHS services across the capital, our call handlers and ambulance crews are incredibly busy with huge increases in the number of calls to both our 999 and 111 services. In fact, by 2pm today, we had received more than 3,000 999 calls and 3,000 calls to our 111 services – this is a third higher than we would usually receive in a full 24 hour period.
“Our teams are always here to help if you need us and we encourage anyone who needs our services to continue to contact us. We are working very hard to make sure we are getting to patients as quickly as possible, but please be aware that our response times today may be impacted by this global issue. We ask that people use our 999 services wisely and contact their pharmacy or visit NHS 111 online where possible. Londoners can continue to help us by only calling 999 in a serious medical emergency.”
Chris Mitchell is the founder and editor of Harrow Online, Harrow’s leading local news platform.
He launched Harrow Online in 2010 as a Facebook page sharing local news and information. Since then, it has grown into a trusted source for breaking news, crime, council decisions, planning, transport, business and community stories across the borough.
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