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South East Coast Ambulance Service declares critical incident

SECAMB South East Coast AmbulanceSECAMB
Secamb urged the public to continue to call 999 in life-threatening emergencies

A critical incident has been declared by an ambulance service that covers four counties.

South East Coast Ambulance Service (Secamb) said it followed more than a week of "sustained pressure" across its 999 and 111 services.

The trust said the heavy workload had "significantly impacted" its ability to respond to patients.

Secamb urged the public to continue to call 999 in life-threatening emergencies.

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Secamb is responsible for covering Brighton & Hove, East Sussex, West Sussex, Kent, Surrey, and North East Hampshire.

In a statement, it said: "Secamb took a decision yesterday evening, (Monday 19 December), to declare a critical incident.

"This decision was taken following a period of more than a week of sustained pressure across both our 999 and 111 services which has significantly impacted on our ability to respond to patients.

"We would like to thank all our staff and volunteers for their hard work and commitment in recent days in what continue to be extremely challenging circumstances."

Secamb is the latest ambulance service to declare a critical incident.

The East of England Ambulance Service (EEAS) declared one following "huge pressure" from 999 calls and hospital handover delays.

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