Ambulance bosses and paramedics are calling for a change in the way emergency calls are dealt with amid claims of a crisis in the service.

Bosses at Sussex Ambulance Service have accepted pressures being placed on ambulance crews need to be reduced by cutting the large number of minor 999 calls.

Sussex Ambulance Service chief executive David Griffiths said alternative ways of dealing with emergency calls needed to be put into place, although he denied there was a crisis.

However, a paramedic today warned the service faced "impending disaster" if things did not improve soon.

His concerns were backed by Sussex Unison representative Colin Rhodes, who said workers were becoming increasingly stretched and a rising tide of attacks and assaults were damaging morale.

In a letter, the paramedic said he wanted to share some serious concerns about the service which he and colleagues felt should be made public so people could learn about the ever-increasing problems staff were dealing with.

He said morale among the 600 ambulance workers across the county was at an all-time low, with many suffering exhaustion and stress.

They had to deal with a rising number of calls where they were simply not needed, such as someone suffering from a cold or a cut finger, and this added to their problems.

Added to that was the number of violent attacks on crews, leading many paramedics to say enough is enough.

In the letter, the paramedic said: "Why people call us to help them give us a hard time when we get there is beyond me.

"I have been in some very frightening situations with only a narrow escape in the past. We really shouldn't have to put up with it at all.

"I can guarantee there are times when ambulances are out dealing with drunks and other trivial matters, there have been genuine people, for example having a heart attack or stroke, who have suffered or even died because even died because there was no ambulance available for them at the time."

Mr Rhodes, also a paramedic and branch secretary for the health union Unison, said: "The overall description of working conditions is true and a lot of it is because we are required to attend every single 999 call made, regardless of its seriousness.

"What we are saying to managers is that this system has to be looked at."

Mr Griffiths, himself an ambulance man for 25 years, said he accepted pressures on crew and called for alternative ways to filter 999 calls.

He said: "I do take this person's point entirely about the issue of the way some emergency calls are dealt with.

"No one involved in the ambulance service objects to dealing with the life-threatening situations, but the time has come when something has to change in order that the calls that are not life-threatening are dealt with appropriately.

"I am the first to admit how hard our staff work but I have to say it is the same for their colleagues in Surrey, Hampshire and Kent.

"To work 12-hour shifts is the norm and the majority of people quite like their shift patterns, but I accept it does bring with it immense demands."

Mr Griffiths said he did not support claims made in the letter that the service was in danger of collapse because of a demoralised workforce.

He said: "The morale and the will of the people in Sussex is absolutely outstanding and that was no more shown than during the recent floods."