Christmas festivities cause 999 calls to rocket
Christmas festivities increased the calls the ambulance service received by more than 10 per cent.
Last night calls from the Black Country were up 12.5pc compared with the previous Saturday, while they increased by 10.4pc across Staffordshire.
The increase in call outs is due to yesterday being the last Saturday before Christmas, combined with pay day for many, leading to more drink and drug related incidents.
Gold Commander for the evening, Nathan Hudson, said: "It was another hugely busy evening for our crews, but again, they were brilliant and provided a really high quality of service with rapid responses to cases.
"As you would expect we saw a wide range of alcohol related incidents, ranging from people who had fallen over as they couldn't stand up they were so drunk, to assaults, unconscious patients, and also drug related incidents from people who had taken so called 'legal highs'.
"Despite often difficult circumstances, staff remained professional and provided high levels of care. Please accept my thanks for the tremendous job that you have all done."
In the Black Country there were 298 calls last night compared to 265 last weekend, and 234 calls last night in Staffordshire compared to 212 on the previous weekend.
West Midlands Ambulance Service received 1,270 calls between 8pm and 4am last night, compared to 1,152 for the same time span last week.
