An ambulance was called by a person who feared they had gorged on too much of a kebab.
An ambulance was called by a person who feared they had gorged on too much of a kebab
The alert was one of a string of nuisance 999 calls revealed by the Wales Ambulance Service.
More calls were made in the country as someone had misplaced their false teeth, and another had their hand stuck in a letterbox.
A lost voice and a ring stuck on a finger prompted other inappropriate calls to the Welsh Ambulance Service.
The service had 414,149 calls last year and of those, 68,416 were not a life-or-death emergency, it said.
It is an average of 188 calls a day which has prompted the trust to remind people only to dial 999 if someone is seriously ill or injured.
Andy Swinburn, executive director of paramedicine, said: “Inappropriate calls put additional strain on an already over-stretched service.”
He added: “Our plea to the public is to apply your common sense – most people know the difference between a real emergency and something that is uncomfortable, painful or irritating but not life-threatening.”
Executive director of operations, Lee Brooks, told the BBC the service needed the public to “take some ownership and accountability for their health and wellbeing” and stressed NHS services were “stretched beyond measure”.
Chief executive of the Wales ambulance service Jason Killens said: “We know it’s confusing to access NHS services – you don’t know what’s open when and which healthcare professional is best placed to help.
“Longer-term, our ambition is to play a strengthened role in the broader NHS system to help patients navigate the right pathway to the most appropriate service, and that includes non-urgent health queries too.”