West Midlands Ambulance Service has busiest day with 6.5k calls

An ambulance service said it has seen its busiest day to date receiving over 6,400 emergency calls.

On Monday, West Midlands Ambulance Service Trust said it had 6,406 emergency calls, 600 more than its previous record, set last week.

It comes as the trust is given more than £5.6m from NHS England to boost staff numbers ahead of winter.

Nathan Hudson, from the trust, said the money will help meet the "current demand pressure".

The trust said it has seen 19 of its 20 busiest days within the last month, with Monday having more calls than any New Years Eve, traditionally its busiest day.

Mr Hudson, emergency service operations delivery director, said there is a "number of factors" increasing demand.

"I think it is fair to say some people may be struggling to get into some primary care services," he said.

"Warm weather as well... high pollen counts, we get quite a few respiratory conditions and probably some of the infection prevention and control measures we have had in place means that maybe our underlying immune system is finding it difficult to cope with some of that."

He said "increased social mixing" could also be a factor.

The funding is part of £55m going to the ambulance sector.

The money is designed to help recruit call handlers, put more crews on the road and increase the number of ambulances available for the winter.

Chief Executive, Anthony Marsh, added: "This additional funding is very welcome when all ambulance services are under immense pressure.

"We have already started recruiting for additional call handlers and will work up other schemes that will allow us to make progress on meeting other key standards as soon as possible."

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