New Year celebrations spark sharp rise in emergency 999 calls
An increase in 999 calls saw emergency services face one of their busiest nights during the New Year celebrations.
The New Year got off to a busy start for West Midlands Police with the force tackling 3,255 emergency calls and 1,963 101 calls
Between midnight on January 1 and midnight on January 2, the force received a huge influx in calls compared to the previous 24 hours when call handers received 1,870 999 calls.
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Elsewhere, calls across the West Midlands were answered in record time for the West Midlands Ambulance Service going into the New Year.
Emergency 999 calls where answered in just one second on average by the two control rooms in Brierley Hill and Stafford, with staff seeing a 3.5 per cent increase in calls between 7pm on New Year's Eve and 6am on New Year's Day.
In total, the trust received 2,140 calls during that time, compared to 2,068 the previous year, however there was a decrease in the amount of calls on New Year's Day, down to 4,152 compared to 4,442 in 2018.
Ambulance service head of emergency operations centres, Jeremy Brown, said: “It is testament to my staff that calls were answered incredibly quickly despite this traditionally being our busy night of the year.
“Our staff, both in control and out on the road, have to give up a lot of time with their families at this time of year and I thank them for all of their efforts and dedication.”
West Midlands Ambulance Service chief executive, Anthony Marsh, said: “I am incredibly proud of the way that our control room staff were able to answer calls incredibly quickly on such a busy night, just as they do throughout the rest of the year.
“That, together with the hard work of ambulance staff who were out responding to the calls helped to ensure patients received care as quickly as possible. I would like to thank everyone involved for putting the public before themselves and their families.”
Staffordshire Police were also affected in 2019 with hundreds more 999 and non-emergency calls.
Almost 1,400 emergency and 101 calls were made on the first day of 2019 between midnight on January 1 and midnight on January 2, with a 38 per cent increase in emergency 999 calls compared to an average day where the force would deal with around 436 calls.
Operators at the police's contact centre received calls about a number of incidents including domestic-related cases, anti-social behaviour, concern for safety, violence and suspicious activity.
Lisa Cope, head of contact services for Staffordshire Police, said; “Our planning for the Christmas and New Year period started at the beginning of 2018 to ensure we had sufficient staffing in place to deal with the anticipated demand.
“On the first day of 2019 we received 700 999 calls in the contact centre and answered these calls in an average of 14 seconds.
"In relation to 101 non-emergency demand we received 668 calls which is a 27 per cent decrease in calls compared to an average day.”
