Tying up valuable resources in the 12 months to the end of March, the number of people calling emergency services for trivial complaints, also included 1,036 calls complaining about constipation, 662 for a toothache, 215 for earaches, 167 for boils and 16 for hiccups.
In the same period, NSW Ambulance also responded to more than 200,000 jobs where no patient was taken to hospital with reasons ranging from hoax calls to refusal of transport.
NSW Ambulance assistant commissioner Steven Norris urged the public to think before calling them for trivial matters.
“If it isn’t a medical emergency, please consider other health services such as your GP, a pharmacist or a registered nurse at HealthDirect which is available 24 hours a day,” he said.
“If you are having a medical emergency, we will always respond to you but too often our paramedics are responding to calls that we simply don’t need to attend.”
Police also received almost 800,000 requests for assistance via Triple Zero in the same period, with about 40,000 transferred to a non-emergency line and more than 150,000 calls later deemed to have been more suitable to a non-emergency line.
NSW Police acting assistant commissioner Rashelle Conroy said: “To ensure there’s always an operator available for any emergency, we’re reminding the community to save Triple Zero for saving lives.”
