Christmas proved to be a busy weekend for West Midlands Ambulance staff - with more than 20,000 calls made over five days

It was a busy weekend for the hard-working staff at West Midlands Ambulance Service with a sharp rise in the number of 999 calls compared to previous years.

Over the five days from December 24 to 28, the Trust took 22,826 emergency calls.

This compares to 19,467 for the same dates in 2019 - equivalent to a 17.3 per cent increase.

The trust did not compare the figures to the 2020 figures due to lockdown potentially affecting the statistics.

Trust chief executive Anthony Marsh said: “I would like to thank the many thousands of staff who worked over the Christmas period while most people were enjoying time with their family and friends.

“It is not just the staff on the road who worked so hard; I want to particularly note the work of the staff in our control rooms.

"These staff are at the forefront of everything that we do, finding out where we are required but also what is wrong with the patient so that our ambulance crews know what they are going into.

“The task at hand for our call handlers and dispatchers is often just as difficult as that experienced by our road staff; they all work exceptionally hard.

“I also want to thank the staff who support these staff, be it the vehicle preparation operatives who clean, fuel and restock the ambulances; the fleet mechanics who make sure we always have ambulances available but also the managers who look after the staff - it is a real team effort.”

The public can assist the ambulance service by using 111 online for urgent advice and only calling 999 in life threatening cases.

Also, members of the public are being asked to not call back to see where the ambulance is or if there is an ETA – they should only call back if the patient’s condition has worsened or you no longer need an ambulance.