AMBULANCE Service chiefs yesterday launched a campaign to stop people making inappropriate 999 calls.

Crews from the Tees, East and North Yorkshire service (Tenyas) have been called out for a variety of unjustifiable reasons recently.

One call came from a woman worried about her sick cat. Others were requests to find a lost handbag, to make a cold drink, and by one man who wanted to know where he could buy cigarettes on a bank holiday.

It is estimated that one in four calls made to Tenyas are unnecessary.

Yesterday, the service launched a hard-hitting campaign entitled Call an Ambulance for the Wrong Reason and Someone Might Die to encourage people to use the 999 service wisely.

Chief executive Jayne Barnes said: "Inappropriate calls are a real problem because they divert emergency resources away from patients with potentially life-threatening, time-critical conditions. In October alone, the number of life-threatening calls received by the service increased by four per cent, so if we can reduce the number of inappropriate calls, this would be of great benefit to us.

"We don't want to deter people from calling 999 if it is a genuine emergency but we need to let people know that there are a range of other services, like NHS Direct, their GP or pharmacy, which could be more appropriate to their needs."

Hundreds of posters are being distributed throughout Tees, East and North Yorkshire area to re-emphasise the message and banish misconceptions.

Jumping the queue at the Accident and Emergency department is believed to be a motive for many 999 calls.

However, patients are treated in A&E according to the urgency of their medical need, regardless of how they made their way to hospital.

Duty deployment manager, Bev Richards, who is based in York Ambulance Control, said: "Every week we receive hundreds of calls from people who are obviously wasting our time and it's incredibly frustrating.

"But what many don't realise is that while a crew is dealing with a patient with a stubbed toe, they can't get to a patient in the next street with chest pains."