A BARRY woman who has called the Welsh Ambulance Service more than 400 times in the last two years has been jailed.

Mariette Mcharg, 54, of Caernarfon Gardens, pleaded guilty to the charge at Cardiff Magistrates Court on Tuesday (July 26).

She made a total of 408 calls to the ambulance service via 999 over the two-year period, and attended the emergency unit at University Hospital of Wales 59 times, equalling 372 hours of care.

She also made an additional 55 visits to Llandough Poisons Unit and a further 127 calls to GP out of hours, the court heard.

She also pleaded guilty to five counts of assault, one of theft and one of making false representation.

To date, 356 unit hours were said to have been taken up managing the calls and using ambulance resources - at a cost to the taxpayer of £78,000.

Her unscheduled care contacts within the Cardiff and Vale University Health Board area totalled an additional £94,611 cost.

In total she was jailed for a total of 24 weeks for the calls, five counts of assault, theft and giving false information Robin Petterson, the Welsh Ambulance Service’s clinical support officer for Cardiff and Vale, said: "We welcome the verdict as we only ever take court action against frequent callers as a last resort.

"When our resources are unnecessarily directed to individuals such as this, it can impact significantly on our services that the people of Wales rely on us for.

"We recognise that some frequent callers have complex needs, and in this particular instance we have dedicated a large amount of time working with multiple partner agencies to provide increased support and advice for her to access appropriate services.

"Unfortunately, despite repeated attempts to identify her unmet needs, there was an escalation in her behaviour which led to us having to pursue court action as a final deterrent.

"It’s essential that we protect this precious service for those genuine life-threatening situations."

Anna Sussex, case load manager for frequent attendees at Cardiff and Vale Health Board, added: "We have worked in partnership with Welsh Ambulance Services Trust to manage Ms Mcharg’s frequent contacts to the unscheduled care services.

"However she has persisted with this behaviour, despite intensive support, investigations, referrals and case conferences designed to support her in the community and divert her away from emergency and unscheduled care services."