New Year's Eve 999 ambulance calls rise by 13%

Ambulance teams received 13% more calls overnight on New Year's Eve.

New Year's Eve 999 calls for ambulances in the West Midlands rose by over a tenth compared to the previous year, figures show.

Ambulance teams received 13% more calls in the 12-hour spell starting at 18:00 GMT on New Year's Eve, West Midlands Ambulance Service (WMAS) said.

Calls rose by 16% across New Year's Eve and New Year's Day as a whole.

The top reasons for calls were medical issues such as chest and abdominal pains, a spokesperson said.

Call centres in Brierley Hill and Stafford received 2,776 overnight calls on New Year's Eve, up from 2,461 the previous year.

The centres received 10,481 calls during New Year's Eve and New Year's Day as a whole, up from 9,055 the previous year.

New Year's Eve calls for ambulances dropped to low levels in 2020, at the height of the Covid pandemic and lockdowns, and have since fluctuated each year, WMAS data show.

In November, WMAS said its call centres were answering 999 calls within two seconds.