COVID-19: How you can help us

On Friday, the Mayor of London declared a major incident for London as the capital battles the spread of COVID-19. Like NHS organisations across the capital, demand for our services has risen sharply over the past weeks and we are now taking around 8,000 999 calls a day compared to 5,500 on a typical ‘busy’ day.

Our staff and volunteers across the Trust are facing extreme pressure as they work incredibly hard to go above and beyond to care for Londoners in need.

How you can help

As a leader of your community, we would greatly appreciate your help in reinforcing both NHS public health messaging about Coronavirus and the importance of calling 999 only in a life-threatening emergency. By helping direct the public to www.111.nhs.uk first for urgent medical advice, you can help us get ambulances to those requiring emergency assistance.

We would be grateful if you could share our suggested key messages with your followers, encouraging them to play their part in protecting themselves and others, whilst also slowing down the spread of the virus and to help us reach those who need us most at this time.

Message #1

#Covid19 cases are increasing in London and the NHS is under enormous pressure.

Please help the NHS by only calling 999 for life-threatening emergencies.

For urgent medical help when it’s not an emergency, please go to 111 online or call 111 if you cannot get online.

Message #2

The coronavirus is spreading quickly in the capital. We must all play our part in helping to reduce the spread, by following the rules.

▶Stay at home.
▶Protect the NHS.
▶Save lives.

Message #3

Around 1 in 3 people with #Covid19 have no symptoms.

The best thing you can do is #StayatHome to protect the NHS and save lives.

If you need to leave home, for the permitted reasons, please follow these simple steps:

▶Wash your hands
▶Cover your face
▶Make space

If you would like to find out how you can support us further during this time, please do get in touch with us via email on londamb.stakeholderengagement@nhs.net

Very many thanks for your support.

London Ambulance Service

Our 24-hour 111 integrated urgent care services in north east and south east London answer more than 1.2million calls a year.

We are the only NHS provider trust to serve the whole of London and the nine million people who live in, work in or visit the city. We cover an area of 620sq miles and our average response time to the most serious emergencies is less than seven minutes.

We have 8000 people who work or volunteer for us and together we are striving to ensure patients receive the right response, in the right place, at the right time.

We work closely with our NHS partners including NHS England, our commissioners, hospitals, specialist trusts and the five sustainability and transformation partnerships (STPs) and Integrated Care Systems (ICS). We play a leading role in integrating access to emergency and urgent care in the capital.

Our collaboration with the Metropolitan Police Service, London Fire Brigade, London’s Air Ambulance and London’s Resilience Forums means we are ready and prepared to respond to major incidents; and ensure we keep Londoners safe.

By integrating our 999 and 111 services we are able to treat more patients over the phone; in their home; or refer them to appropriate care in their own community. This is key in achieving our strategic ambition of reducing the number of unnecessary trips to hospital; and should mean 122,000 fewer patients a year being taken to emergency departments.