Eating a raw chicken Kyiv, laundry detergent in an eye, and a swollen finger were the reasons behind some of the unnecessary 999 calls made during the heatwave. The Welsh Ambulance Service has urged people to call them only when it is appropriate to do so.
The NHS trust said 19,517 calls were made to the service between July 4 and 18. Almost a fifth were non-essential and 16 were hoax calls – including from someone falsely reporting that a dog had been stabbed. Meanwhile one person called 999 with earache and another called because their tooth had fallen out.
Emergency services said they faced "extreme pressures" as Wales experienced record-breaking temperatures. While the heat has since subsided the remainder of the week is still set to be warm. Breathing problems was the number one reason people called 999 on Tuesday when temperatures in the UK topped 40C while calls to drownings and to people with heat exposure also increased.
