Not all 999 calls will result in ambulances being sent out

Instead, they could receive care at home or from another part of the NHS.

The changes are aimed at reducing misuse of the service. Ambulance chiefs estimate a quarter of 999 calls could be dealt with safely in other ways.

They say they will mean ambulances will be freed up to attend life-threatening calls.

Today's move is about providing the most appropriate care to patients. Peter Bradley, National Ambulance Advisor

Such calls are currently classed as non-urgent 999 'Category C' calls.

There are centrally set targets which say an ambulance should reach a Category C call in 14 minutes in urban areas and 19 in rural.

But from 1 October this year, local NHS organisations - such as primary care trusts - will have responsibility for managing and monitoring how local services respond to these types of call along with the ambulance service.

Ambulance service chiefs welcomed the changes. By removing the requirement for ambulances to be sent out to non-urgent calls, they say more ambulances will be freed up for emergency calls and fewer people will be taken to casualty units, meaning they will have more capacity to treat seriously ill patients.

'Greater discretion'

Announcing the changes, Health Minister Rosie Winterton said: "We are now giving strategic health authorities, primary care trusts and local ambulance trusts the freedom to work together so they can decide how best to care for patients with non-urgent healthcare needs.

"Primary care trusts and ambulance trusts will now be able to work with other local health organisations to agree how to deliver the best possible, clinically safe response for patients and how to measure local performance.

"This will help to ensure patients get a fast responsive service that meets their needs and that efficient use is made of ambulance technicians, paramedics and emergency care practitioner skills."

Richard Diment, chief executive of the Ambulance Service Association told BBC News Online: "Up until now its been a requirement to send an ambulance to non-emergency calls, even though it may not have been the most appropriate thing.

"For some minor injuries, that may still be the most appropriate course of action. But these changes will mean we will be able to decide if other parts of the NHS are better placed to help."

He said tailoring arrangements to local needs would also improve the service patients received.

"What people living in rural Devon need could be very different to what people living in Birmingham need."

Flexibility

Peter Bradley, the government's national ambulance adviser, said: "Today's move is about providing the most appropriate care to patients.

"Flexibility to provide alternative care pathways for patients with non-urgent conditions means that ambulance trusts can provide a better service to these patients without the need to follow a national response time.

"This can range from treating patients at home to prevent unnecessary admission to hospital or attendance at A&E to making sure they get specialist care more quickly through prompt referral to other organisations."