A major ambulance trust has declared a “critical incident” due to “extreme pressures” it’s facing on its services.

South Central Ambulance Service (SCAS), which operates across Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Hampshire, said its staff are continuing to “work extremely hard” to manage the situation.

A critical incident is usually declared when an organisation’s services are disrupted so much they are no longer able to operate as normal, meaning special requirements have to be implemented.

Read more: NHS group in Norfolk declares critical incident after coming ‘under unprecedented pressure’

Announcing the situation in the early hours of Wednesday morning, the trust said: “SCAS has tonight declared a critical incident due to extreme pressures across our services.

“Our staff are working extremely hard to respond to calls and manage the situation and we continue to prioritise those patients with life-threatening injuries and illnesses.”

It added that it is now only able to focus its resources on “those patients most in need” and the situation “communicated the pressures” it is under.

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What to do if you need help?

People in need of non-urgent care have been told they could be instructed to make their own way to hospital to receive treatment.

On Twitter, the trust said: “If your situation is not a life-threatening or serious emergency then we will discuss your needs and provide advice.”

It also urged patients to support its services “wisely” and to use NHS 111 where “possible and appropriate” to do so.

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Those in a life-threatening situation or serious emergency should still call 999.

In recent weeks, SCAS announced it would be operating a call-back service for those who did not need urgent care.

On 24 March, it said: “In these challenging times, when days are very busy with those who are in desperate need of our care, as it continues to be today, we do need to ensure that our vital ambulance resources are sent as a priority to those whose lives may be at risk if we are delayed attending them.”

COVID case rates in England reach highest level ever

It comes as the prevalence of COVID-19 across England reaches an all-time high and experts warn there could be an increase in the number of hospital admissions.

Results from the final influential React-1 study by Imperial College London found the two variants of Omicron – BA.1 and BA.2 – have caused twin peaks in the pandemic – one in January, and another in March.

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It also showed about one in 16 people were infected between the 8 and 31 of March and the highest rates of infection were in primary school-aged children and those over 55.

According to the study, the “high and increasing prevalence in older adults may increase hospitalisations and deaths despite high levels of vaccination”.

On Monday, nine additional COVID symptoms were added to the official NHS list including, headaches, diarrhoea and a blocked nose.

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