South East Coast Ambulance Service is preparing for a busy
weekend ahead of this year’s Pride event in Brighton.

It is urging everyone to enjoy the event but to be sensible to
avoid unnecessary calls to the ambulance service and trips to
A&E.

The Trust will have more than 100 staff working across its
Brighton operational area on Saturday (6 August) with additional
support from volunteer community first responders.

Last year the Trust handled more than 600 calls across the city
on the Saturday and Sunday of the event – more than it handled in
the region in a 48-hour period from New Year’s Eve to January 1
this year.

Today, (Friday 5 August), SECAmb is hosting the first UK
National Ambulance LGBT (lesbian, gay, bi-sexual, transgender)
Network conference at the Amex Stadium, Brighton.

The event saw the unveiling of an ambulance
‘wrapped’ in Pride colours. The vehicle will join Saturday’s parade
with up to 150 people including SECAmb members of staff, their
family, friends and colleagues from other ambulance services,
expected to participate.

Paramedic and Brighton and Hove Operational Unit Manager Tim
Fellows said: “Pride is a friendly and fun event and we’re
delighted to once again have a very strong, and with the wrapped
ambulance, even more colourful presence in the parade.

“From an operational point of view, however, the sheer number of
people in the city means that inevitably, it will be a busy couple
of days for us. We’ve been working closely with our emergency
service colleagues and St John Ambulance, who provide the main
medical cover for the event and treat many more patients in
addition to those we see.”

“While we’re planning for an increase in calls we’d like to
remind people for the need to plan their day ahead and ensure they
drink plenty of water, use sun cream and look out for each other to
avoid the need to call us.”

SECAmb is reminding the public that 999 should only be used in
an emergency. Anyone faced with a medical emergency shouldn’t
hesitate to call but it is urging anyone else who needs help to
consider all the other options available to them. This might be
calling NHS111 for help, where staff can provide support and advice
over the phone and refer patients to out-of-hours services where
appropriate.

When to call 999:

 If you think a patient is suffering from one of the
following you must dial 999 for an ambulance:
• Anyone who isn’t breathing or is in cardiac arrest
• Chest pain for more than 15 minutes (which may be indicative
of a heart attack)
• sudden unexplained shortness of breath
• heavy bleeding
• unconsciousness (even if the patient has regained
consciousness)
• traumatic back/spinal/neck pain (for example injuries from
falls or other accidents, causing severe pain or possible
fractures)

 You should also call for an ambulance if: 
• you think the patient’s illness or injury is
life-threatening
• moving the patient/s without skilled people could cause
further injury