CHANGES in the way calls to the ambulance service are handled are set to be piloted in the South West next month.

The changes to be trialled include extending the call-handling time for non-life-threatening calls to 120 seconds, which the NHS says will reduce wasted ambulance journeys and help to save lives.

A spokesperson said: 'Evidence shows that less than 10 per cent of 999 calls are for genuinely life-threatening conditions, yet ambulance services currently categorise around 40 per cent of calls as such, partly because call handlers have only 60 seconds to gather the information they need.'

Director of acute clinical care for NHS England Professor Keith Willett said that the new arrangements had been recommended by doctors and clinical experts. The changes would 'increase the availability of ambulance vehicles and paramedic staff to patients', he said.

But ambulance staff union the GMB has slammed the proposals, saying that 'more deaths will arise in the South West' as a result of the extension of call-handling times.

'The whole of the Accident and Emergency structures are at breaking point due to the changes this Government have already made,' said GMB regional officer Tony Hughes.

'These pilots... will only serve to bring worse outcomes for patients. The run-up to the general election is clearly a factor so that the Tories can show that Ambulance Services are meeting their targets.'