AMBULANCE service chiefs have warned the public aboutsignificant changes to the way 999 calls are handled.

Tees, East and North Yorkshire Ambulance Service (Tenyas) will no longer be obliged to send 'blue light' ambulances to all 999 calls under changes which come into force in April.

Calls which relate to minor ailments, such as cut fingers or earache, known as category C, will be transferred to a team of specially trained medical staff, known as clinical telephone advisors.

They will assess the best option for patients, which could include giving medical advice over the phone.

Callers with minor conditions may also be advised to call the NHS Direct healthcare advice line.

They could be asked to contact a GP, a district nurse or an emergency care practitioner, a specially-trained community nurse.

Alternatively, they could be advised to make their way to a minor injury unit or accident and emergency department at a local hospital.

Under certain circumstances, it might be possible to send an ambulance if there is a clinical need but without blue lights and siren.

Patients with very minor complaints could also be advised to visit their local pharmacist.

Tenyas chief executive Jayne Barnes said: "Not only will it enable us to focus our resources on calls which we know are life-threatening, we will also be able to offer a more appropriate response to patients with minor conditions.

"This removes the dangerous situation where we may have an ambulance running with blue lights and sirens to a patient with earache. From April, that ambulance will be freed-up to reach a patient who really needs it quickly."

Irving Cobden, medical director for Tenyas, said he wanted to reassure the public that the new system would provide safeguards for patients whose condition deteriorated or was more serious than had been at first thought.

He said: "At the end of the day, we will always have the capability to send an ambulance when needed."