Concerns raised as ambulance service receives record number of emergency calls

[dutchman]

Ambulance chiefs have raised concern after receiving a record number of emergency calls in a single day



The number of 999 calls to West Midlands Ambulance Service (WMAS) topped out at 5,001 on Monday – the first time they had ever reached the 5,000 mark.

New Years Day is traditionally the busiest day of the year, and the previous busiest day was on January 1, 2017, when 4,628 calls were received.

But Sunday (March 4) was the third busiest day ever for WMAS, with 4,451 emergency calls received, prompting concern from bosses as to why.

Trust chief executive Anthony Marsh said: “These are unprecedented call numbers; astonishingly, demand was almost 20 per cent higher than we would have expected.

“It is a huge concern that so many people have seemingly ignored other NHS services and felt the need to dial 999.

“An increase in cases due to the snow was expected but the fact that call numbers have spiked upwards so sharply since that period is very worrying.

“We will be looking into the cases to try and work out whether there are any patterns or reasons behind such rises.”