South East Coast Ambulance Service sees festive calls rise

South East Coast Ambulance Service control staff received about 3,000 emergency calls every day over the Christmas and new year fortnight

More than 50,000 emergency calls were received by ambulance control staff in the south-east of England during the last two weeks of the year.

The South East Coast Ambulance Service (Secamb) said on average about 3,000 calls were made every day.

More than 2,700 calls - a rise of about 500 on 2013 - were received over a 24 hour period on New Year's Eve, with more than three a minute at its height.

Chief executive Paul Sutton said the period was always very challenging.

The trust said ambulance crews out on the road across Kent, Sussex and Surrey "worked flat out to reach and treat those in most need as quickly as possible".