'Is that 999? I've got a wobbly tooth'

A sore throat, a wobbly tooth and broken headphones might not seem like emergency situations to many people.

But these were the reasons for some of the weirdest 999 calls made in Wales in the past year.

The list of bizarre non-emergency calls made to the Welsh Ambulance Service was revealed to remind people to only call if someone is seriously ill or injured.

Of the 414,118 incidents recorded last year, 15% (62,454) were not appropriate for the ambulance service – roughly one in every seven.

The service's paramedicine boss Andy Swinburn said: "When people call 999 for things like a sore throat, it takes up the valuable time of our call handlers and clinicians, who could be helping patients with a genuine emergency."

He urged people to use common sense and to call only when help was immediately needed.

"That's things such as cardiac arrest, chest pain, breathing difficulties, loss of consciousness, choking, catastrophic bleeding and stroke," he said.

The service's operations chief, Lee Brooks, insisted it was not about placing blame, but said people needed to "take responsibility".

"While we're dealing with a non-urgent call, an elderly person may have fallen and broken their hip, a teenager could be in cardiac arrest or someone may be unconscious after a serious road traffic collision," he said.

The service said the NHS 111 Wales website was there for advice and information, or people should call 111.

Pharmacists, it added, can give advice and offer over-the-counter medicines for common ailments while minor injury units can deal with things like stings, bites and lesser burns.

Here are some of the stranger 999 calls the ambulance service has received in the past year:

Operator: Is the patient breathing?

Caller: Yeah, I'm the patient. I was gargling with mouthwash to try to get rid of my flu, and a drop of the mouthwash went down my throat.

Operator: Tell me exactly what's happened.

Caller: He was sorting out his fishing equipment and a fishing hook has gone right through his finger, and there's no way I can get it out.

Operator: Tell me exactly what's happened.

Caller: He got a little cut but he feels dizzy and light-headed. It's not a big cut, it's a small cut, but he feels dizzy and he's sweating a lot.

Caller: He was listening with his headphones on a phone, and the end's come off and gone in his ear.

Operator: Right, so there's an earphone stuck in his ear, is that correct?

Caller: Well, he claims, yeah.

Operator: Tell me exactly what's happened.

Caller: I've just applied ointment under my eye. Maybe the ointment ran inside my eye and now I'm unable to open my eye. My eyeball hurts.

Operator: Tell me exactly what's happened.

Caller: Basically, I've just woke up and I can't swallow or nothing. It's my throat, it's killing me.

Caller: What I really need is a dentist.

Operator: What's happened to your tooth?

Caller: My tooth is broken, it's gone.

Operator: When did that happen?

Caller: It happened last week. I don't want to waste your services. All I want is to be able to see a dentist in the morning.