People are being asked to stick to the worst cases, mostly life or death, when calling Kent’s emergency ambulances.

This follows a 10% increase in demand compared with last year.

South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust said it was struggling to cope with a current high volume of calls today.

It says that this is affecting its ability to respond quickly to 999 emergencies.

It now wants the public to think carefully about whether they need to call for an ambulance or whether they can get alternative help.

Richard Webber, the Trust’s on-call strategic incident commander, said: “We are currently receiving a high volume of emergency 999 calls which we are struggling to reach in a timely manner.

“This means that for certain emergencies, some patients can expect to wait longer for an ambulance as we focus our efforts on responding to calls which are deemed life-threatening.

“The public can help us by avoid calling us for non-life-threatening emergencies and seek alternative treatment from other healthcare providers.

“If you do require hospital treatment look to make your own way there.

“We’d like to remind people to only dial 999 in the event of a serious emergency and remember the other options available, such as calling the NHS 111 line."

You should dial 999 for an ambulance when you think a patient is suffering from conditions such as a heart attack, chest pain for more than 15 minutes, sudden unexplained shortness of breath or heavy bleeding.

Also call 999 in cases of unconsciousness, even if the patient has come round, or traumatic back, spinal or neck pain.

In addition call if you think the patient’s illness or injury is life-threatening, you think the condition may become worse, or even life-threatening on the way to the hospital.

Again call if moving the patient without skilled people could cause further injury or if the patient needs the skills or equipment of the ambulance service and its personnel.