Saturday 19th December 2015 – 7.10am – Murray MacGregor.
New figures show that despite it being very busy, good planning by West Midlands Ambulance Service ensured that patients received high levels of care.
Overall, the number of 999 calls on so called ‘Black Friday’ rose by only a handful compared to 2014, but the situation was quite different depending on the area you were in.
There were rises in call numbers in Birmingham, the Black Country and Shropshire, but falls in Coventry & Warwickshire, Staffordshire and Herefordshire & Worcestershire.
The Trust ensured there were considerably more resources on duty across the Region than a normal Friday night to cope with the predicted demand.
It also worked with partner agencies such as Birmingham City Council, Central Accident Resuscitation Emergency (CARE) Team nurses and doctors, Community First Responders and volunteers from the British Red Cross, St John Ambulance and West Midlands Police to provide a Temporary Minor Injuries Unit and City Centre Treatment Unit in Birmingham City Centre.
Gold Commander for the evening, Nathan Hudson, said: “First of all, I’d like to thank our staff for their fantastic response to a very challenging evening. They worked really hard in often difficult circumstances dealing with patients who were often very much the worse for alcohol.
“We put a lot of planning into the evening and everything worked very well, which ensured we were able to provide a high level of service to patients, right across the region.
“I’d also like to thank the public, who in the main, followed our advice and looked after their friends who they were out with.
“It certainly looked like people were having a good time and celebrating Christmas, which is exactly what we were hoping they would be able to do.”
Figures for the period 8.00pm on Friday 18th – 4.00am on Saturday 19th 2015 compared to the same period in 2014:
Total calls 2015: 1,159
Total calls 2014: 1,155
