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Busy Christmas for ambulance service

The region's ambulance service had a busy Christmas day, taking more than 2,700 emergency calls.

That's a hike of around 300 calls compared to an average day, and 40 more than last Christmas.

The East of England Ambulance Service said calls ranged from chest pains and choking, to assaults and births.

Just over 1,200 patients were taken to hospital. They're expecting New Year's Eve and New Year's Day to even busier.

However, there was a decrease of about 360 calls over the three days of the Christmas period compared to 2012.

Whilst it’s encouraging we’ve seen a slight decrease in the number of calls compared to the same period last year, we’re still seeing an increase each Christmas Day.

Our staff are working as hard as ever over the period and I’m proud of all those who have been carrying out lifesaving work for the Trust over the past few days.

From our call handlers, to the crews out on the roads, and everyone else - I’d like to say a huge thank you to them all.

– Rob Ashford, Acting Director of Service Delivery
  • Total 999 calls on Christmas Day - 2,717
  • People taken to hospital by EEAST on Christmas Day - 1,241
  • Total calls from Christmas Eve to Boxing Day - 7,813