MORE than £1 million is wasted every month when the North West Ambulance Service is called out but finds nobody to treat.

Every month there are 1,181 ambulance callouts to locations where no patients are found, a further 6,207 callouts are made to people who refuse care.

NWAS is asking people to "make the right call" to choose the right NHS service to get the most appropriate care.

Ged Blezard, director of operations, said: “The cost of wasted journeys is significant, but so is the amount of time that we spend looking for people who we think need our help when we could actually be helping someone else.

"There are many reasons why people may not be there when our crews arrive; sometimes they decide to go to hospital with a family member, or get treatment elsewhere, but don’t let us know. This could be down to unrealistic expectations of how quickly ambulances respond, or because we are simply that busy that they, unfortunately, have to wait longer for a response than we would like."

With each of these call outs costing approximately £145 the total price of wasted ambulance journeys costs the region’s ambulance service, and the public purse, £12,855,120 a year which could have funded:

• 92 brand new, fully kitted emergency ambulances

• The salaries and staffing costs for 286 paramedics or 390 emergency medical technicians

• 1071 high spec monitoring devices for heart rate, blood pressure, oxygen levels and to defibrillate patients in cardiac arrest

• 2,571,024 blankets to keep patients warm

• 1071 ambulance stretchers