Drugs

SPIKE IN AMBULANCE CALL OUTS FOR SO CALLED ‘LEGAL HIGHS’ CONTINUES

North East Ambulance Service is repeating its warning today after the number of patients calling for emergency help as a result of ‘legal highs’ has continued to climb.

Over the last week the service reports nearly 90 calls to 999 for patients with symptoms ranging from seizures, unconsciousness, shortness of breath, vomiting, aggression, palpitations, agitation and foaming at the mouth.

A majority of the calls were for young people in the west end area of Newcastle and on each occasion callers have reported the patients having had a legal high.

An ambulance was sent to each incident to convey the patients to hospital.  Many of the patients have absconded or refused treatment.

Head of Resilience and Special Operations, Simon Swallow, said: “These so-called legal highs are not safe to use and carry a serious health risk and are putting people’s lives at risk.

“We raised our operational status to “Severe Pressure” in December as result of growing demand on the service during winter and these call-outs are putting an additional burden on our service by preventing us from being available to attend other life-threatening emergencies such as heart attacks and strokes.

“We are urging people NOT to take these so-called legal highs as they are putting their own lives in danger and also endangering the lives of others because these calls are potentially delaying our response to someone else who is suffering a heart attack or other life-threatening condition.”

Chief Inspector Dave Pickett said: "Using legal highs, in the way they are intended or otherwise, isn't safe and we would urge people to steer clear of them. They can kill or have a devastating impact on someone's health as they often contain potentially dangerous chemicals.

"As people become unwell from taking legal highs it then puts an additional strain on emergency services, so it has wider implications than just your health. Just because the substance says it's legal, doesn't mean it's safe and our advice would always be to avoid using legal highs."

Professor Eugene Milne, Newcastle’s Director of Public Health, said: “These substances are often dangerous, particularly when mixed with other drugs, alcohol or medication. When you take a so-called legal high, you don’t know what is in it or how strong it may be.

"The escalating number of incidents we are seeing clearly illustrates this danger and could lead to serious illness, injury and death. In addition, this problem is using much valuable time and effort in essential services that are already under pressure.”

If you or anyone you know are affected contact Lifeline Newcastle on 0191 261 5610

For under 18s DnA Young People’s Service 0191 2777377

For families or carers PROPs 0191 2263440

To find out more about legal highs, visit the FRANK website or http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/drugs/Pages/legalhighs.aspx. Or www.hiwecanhelp.com

The government announced new legislation in May 2015 that will ban the new generation of psychoactive drugs.  (https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/psychoactive-substances-bill-2015 )


Notes to editors

Notes to editors:

Ambulance Operational Status: All ambulance services across the UK work to a national framework, called the *Resource Escalation Action Plan (REAP), which has four levels designed to maintain an effective and safe operational and clinical response for patients.

North East Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (NEAS) covers 3,200 square miles across the North East region. It employs more than 2,500 staff and serves a population of 2.7 million people by handling all NHS 111 and 999 calls for the region, operating patient transport and ambulance response services, delivering training for communities and commercial audiences and providing medical support cover at events.

 

In 2014/15 NEAS answered 1.107 million emergency 999 and NHS 111 calls, responded to 302,687 incidents that resulted in a patient being taken to hospital, treated and discharged 18,144 patients with telephone advice and treated and discharged 81,990 patients at home. In the same year, emergency care crews reached 134,745 incidents within the national target of 8 minutes.

The cost of an ambulance journey to hospital costs the NHS £235 and attendance at Accident and Emergency costs a further £114 (The Kings Fund).

What is an emergency?

Members of the public should only dial 999 for medical emergencies.

Examples of medical emergencies include:      

  • Chest pain;
  • Breathing difficulties;
  • Unconsciousness;
  • Severe loss of blood;
  • Severe burns;
  • Choking;
  • Fitting;
  • Drowning
  • Severe allergic reactions

If it is not an emergency, members of the public are asked to seek help from their GP, pharmacist or local walk-in centre. Anyone unsure of where to go can call NHS 111.