I like everyone else poured scorn upon NHS Direct when in the early days the very mention of "chest" got a 999 response...callers mentioned stubbing toe on "chest of drawers"=999, its very cold outside and my "chest gets tight" = 999 etc. We don,t get to hear how many calls are fielded away from the ambulance service only the ones where we are sent to be on the safe side. It is getting better...my only complaint about NHS Direct is that I feel it has also created a demand where there was,nt such a big demand before. The reply earlier about "increasing the numbers full stop.." (more ambulances/crews) wont happen as the books need to be balanced somehow but as I said more RRVs should not be at the expense of fewer crews. Everyone should work towards helping the patient/casualty in a team effort not to chase targets or times.