PEOPLE with minor injuries who dial 999 in North Yorkshire will no longer be sent an ambulance.

From Sunday, calls about non-urgent ailments will be transferred to medical staff for assessment.

The move follows a Government announcement last year which gave ambulance services the freedom to provide alternative treatment for patients who do not need emergency care.

Previously, Tees, East and North Yorkshire Ambulance Service was obliged to send ambulances to all 999 calls, no matter how minor the condition.

Now clinical advisors will assess the situation and offer options including medical advice by phone, contacting NHS Direct or a GP, arranging a visit from a district nurse emergency care practitioner, the patient driving to a minor injuries unit or hospital accident and emergency department, sending an ambulance or non-emergency vehicle or recommending a visit to a GP or pharmacist.

Tenyas chief executive, Jayne Barnes, said: "This is an important development for the ambulance service and ensures that our response to individual patients is based on their clinical need. It's all about a patient receiving the right treatment at the right time. Offering a more appropriate response to patients with minor conditions means we can focus our efforts on calls which are known to be life-threatening."

Project manager, Jayne Scaife, said: "It is a common misconception that this is a cost-cutting measure and ambulances will be taken off the road but that is not the case. There will actually be more ambulances for fewer jobs. We have a duty of care which we take incredibly seriously. Elderly people in particular have expressed concerns about the new system, but we would like to reassure them that if an ambulance response is deemed unnecessary, they will receive an appropriate level of care."

The new arrangements will not be introduced on Teesside until late summer when changes have been made to the ambulance dispatch system in Middlesbrough.