THERE was no doubting the panic in the voice of the caller who had dialled 999 for the ambulance control room.

But his "plight" staggered the normally unflappable staff at the headquarters of the Hereford and Worcester service - he wanted an ambulance driver to return an overdue video to the shop!

Another man used the emergency line when he was unable to get to sleep; a woman caller panicked when she needed to pick up a prescription but couldn't get to the chemist before it closed; two emergency calls came after cuts - one to a finger from a corned beef tin, another who cut himself while shaving.

Such frivolous calls may draw a wry smile but this week the ambulance service chief Frances Martin was far from amused.

The Hereford and Worcester service dealt with more than 5,000 calls in December - the busiest month in its history.

Ms Martin, the service's director of operations, said: "As the number of calls continues to rise, it's important that people know when to call an emergency ambulance.

"Ambulances are for critical or life-threatening emergencies such as loss of consciousness, heavy blood loss, suspected broken bones, persistent chest pain, difficulty breathing, an overdose, ingestion or poisoning."

Even leaving aside the more ludicrous examples above, ambulance authorities are growing increasingly concerned at the way the public are making unnecessary calls.

Ms Martin said: "We do get calls to all sorts of less serious cases, where patients could quite easily see their GP. For example, last week we had a call to someone who had cut himself shaving. This is not a good use of emergency resources.

"Our rise in calls is in line with national increases in 999 demand. Increases in the numbers of people with heart conditions and diabetes will have a big effect on our service.

"There is also a steady increase in the number of cases related to alcohol, although fortunately this wasn't a big problem over Christmas."

She concluded: "Help us to give you the best treatment by calling an ambulance only when it is a genuine emergency, and referring other conditions to pharmacists, GPs or minor injuries units."

The Hereford and Worcester Ambulance Service NHS Trust provides emergency, urgent and patient transport services across a geographical area of 1,512 square miles with a total population of 722,500.

In 2004-2005 the trust answered 53,000 emergency and urgent calls.

In 75 per cent of life-threatening cases, an ambulance was at the scene in eight minutes and in 95 per cent of less serious cases an ambulance was at the scene in 19 minutes.

The trust also responded to 11,500 urgent calls from doctors and made 138,000 patient transport service journeys.

Under current government plans, the service will merge with other neighbouring services including Staffordshire, West Midlands and Coventry & Warwickshire to create a West Central service.

The plan, which would almost certainly mean a central control room in Birmingham rather than at Bransford, is still at the consultation stage and the Hereford and Worcester trust will discuss it at its meeting on January 31.

"What we will be looking at is what kind of service can best serve the people of Hereford and Worcester. That will be our main consideration throughout," said Ms Martin.