AMBULANCES will not be sent out to patients with non urgent conditions such as a cut finger or earache.

The changes were announced by the Government last week and due to come into force from October 1.

Wiltshire Ambulance Service Trust chief executive Tim Skelton said ambulance control operators would work within strict criteria to ensure people who really need an ambulance would still get one.

He said: "We have got to very careful we categorise patients appropriately. We will make sure that no-one slips through the net. We have a robust clinical priority system for our operators to identify how serious the condition is.

"People who have non urgent conditions don't need an ambulance screaming up to their door and taking them to hospital."

Instead of sending an ambulance in these cases, people will either be referred to minor injuries units, or accident and emergency units, their GP or Social Services. The change will free up ambulances to respond to category A (life threatening calls) and category B (severe).

Wiltshire Ambulance Service currently reaches 65 per cent of people in the time period set compared to the national target of 75 per cent.