TROUBLEMAKERS made nearly 800 hoax calls to the South West’s stretched ambulance service last year.

In April 2017 alone, staff were distracted from real life emergencies 91 times, figures obtained from a Freedom of Information request reveal.

The news comes at a time when South West Ambulance Service Trust (Swast) is struggling to hit response time targets amid increasing pressures on the NHS.

The figures show that Swast received 774 hoax calls in 2017. However, the number is low compared to the 900,000 calls the service responds to each year.

Calls made in good faith which turn out to be unnecessary are not recorded as hoax calls. Those caught faking 999 calls can be imprisoned for six months or given a fine of up to £5,000.

A Swast spokeswoman said: ‘Making hoax calls can put lives at risk. We strongly encourage parents to impress upon their children the importance of only dialling 999 in a genuine emergency situation.

‘It is vital that people understand and appreciate the consequences associated with making hoax calls. We work with the police and other partners to seek the prosecution of people who abuse the 999 system.’

Last year, the average cost of assessing a patient over the phone was £44 for every incident, while the average for a patient treated at the scene was £167.

When a patient needed to be taken to hospital the average cost was £261 per incident. The cost of each hoax call is not calculated by Swast.

The news comes as an ambulance service union claimed paramedics in the South West were being failed by the justice system.

Less than one per cent of assaults on South West ambulance staff resulted in prison sentences, according to the GMB.

Some were stabbed and bitten while others had cars driven at them, the union said.

Swast said last year that it takes a ‘zero tolerance approach to any form of physical or verbal abuse towards our staff’.

The union is now calling for tougher sentences under new legislation being voted on by MPs this week.

The ambulance service covers the Avon area – including Bristol and Bath, as well as Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly, Devon, Dorset, Somerset, Wiltshire and Gloucestershire.

Month and hoax calls

January 2017: 52

February 2017: 47

March 2017: 55

April 2017: 91

May 2017: 83

June 2017: 63

July 2017: 74

August 2017: 78

September 2017: 50

October 2017: 54

November 2017: 47

December 2017: 80