The North West Ambulance Service have issued the following advice:
Help us to help you to get the right care and treatment this winter – make the right call about your health care.
With less than 10 per cent of calls to the ambulance service for the most time critical life-threatening injuries and illnesses such as cardiac arrests, allergic reactions and breathing problems, there are undoubtedly things the public can do to help use stretched resources wisely.
Around half of 999 calls are for serious conditions such as strokes and heart attacks. But the remaining calls - around a third - are for people with urgent care needs who could get treatment more quickly if they chose the most appropriate service first.
Whilst the ambulance service will not dispatch crews to every 999 incident, emergency call handlers in the North West answer around 4,000 calls every day. If they are tied up on the phone dealing with non-emergencies then someone in a life or death situation could be waiting longer than necessary to get through.
This animated film highlights were people can get help, be that advice from a pharmacist for common health niggles, with their GP for health issues which will not go away, at an urgent treatment centre for minor illnesses and injuries or by calling NHS 111.