A TECHNICAL fault resulted in people being unable to get through to NHS and police non-emergency numbers.
Calls to NHS 111, which is run by West Midlands Ambulance Service, as well as the 101 service for West Mercia Police were struck by the issue from about 4am on Saturday (November 22).
The telecommunications issue caused delays in people getting through to call handlers, despite enough staff manning the call centres.
A recorded message was left on the 111 answer phone giving people an alternative number to call, while those calling the police were directed to their switchboard number.
Engineers for Vodafone spent hours working to resolve the issue and most lines were back up and running from 1pm. Emergency calls to 999 were not affected.
A spokesman from West Midlands Ambulance Service said calls began ‘trickling through’ from 1pm, and the service was completely fixed five hours later.
Although it was a separate issue, Worcestershire County Council also experience problems with their phone lines last Thursday (November 20).
Residents calls were diverted to a number of helplines, where staff worked to transfer people to the right department.