South East Coast Ambulance Service declares 999 critical incident

Staff are 'working hard' to respond to patients, the service said

An ambulance service that declared a critical incident after a "significant IT issue" has said it is now bringing its systems back online.

South East Coast Ambulance Service (Secamb) had urged people to "consider alternatives to 999".

The BBC understood the technology issue had delayed ambulance dispatches.

Secamb later tweeted systems were coming back online but further testing still needed to take place.

It came a week after a similar system failure in the east of England.

Staff 'working tirelessly'

Earlier, Secamb advised people to use NHS 111 online as an alternative, "unless absolutely essential".

Emma Williams, director of operations, said: "I can guarantee we are still taking 999 calls, responding to patients... and dispatching ambulances where there is a clinical need."

She said patients were being "prioritised" based on the severity of their symptoms.

She said it was "too early to say" what caused the issue.

The target for an ambulance to arrive to a patient is seven minutes, however there had "inevitably" been an impact on waiting times, she added.

Six other ambulance services stepped in to answer Secamb's calls.

While the incident was ongoing, Unison south east regional organiser Joshua Cooper said: "Ambulance and control room staff are working tirelessly to respond to every emergency call they receive and doing all they can to keep patients safe.

"Lengthy delays are causing much distress to NHS staff.

"Staff are already at breaking point after months of 'winter-style' pressures."

Secamb said staff worked "extremely hard" as they continued to respond to patients.

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