Critical incident remains for South Central Ambulance Service

South Central Ambulance Service (SCAS) said it was experiencing "extreme pressure" across its services

A critical incident remains in place across the four counties served by one of the country's biggest ambulance services.

South Central Ambulance Service (SCAS) declared the alert on Wednesday due to "extreme pressures".

SCAS asked that people make their own way to hospital except in life-threatening or serious emergencies.

Numbers of call-outs, Covid patients and staff sickness have been blamed for the situation.

SCAS said staff were working to manage the issues.

It said: "The critical incident we declared due to extreme pressures as a result of demand and challenges in releasing our crews from busy hospitals currently remains in place. However, we have been working closely with all healthcare partners to manage the situation."

An NHS spokesperson said: "NHS staff remain under significant pressure on many fronts as they deal with high numbers of ambulance call-outs, increasing numbers of people in hospital with Covid-19, while the latest weekly figures also show a spike in the number of staff off sick due to the virus."

But they said NHS teams across the country were "working hard to deliver as much routine care as possible as well as rolling out the spring booster programme".

SCAS is responsible for covering Hampshire, Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire and Berkshire.