Thousands of non-emergency calls are now being made each week across the state. Ambulance workers responded to more than 200,000 jobs where no patient was taken to hospital in the past year. Of those calls, reasons ranged from hoax calls to refusing to be transported. Ambulance services also received a concerning number of calls for trivial matters during that time, including more than 1,000 calls from people complaining about constipation, 662 for a toothache, 215 for earaches, and 16 for hiccups. New South Wales police received almost 800,000 requests for emergency assistance. NSW Ambulance Assistant Commissioner Steven Norris says some of these calls are taking workers away from saving lives, at a time when emergency services have never been busier.