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London Ambulance Service (LAS) reached sick and injured patients more quickly in December than during any Christmas period since 2020, according to new figures published this week.
Response times for people with life-threatening conditions, such as those who had stopped breathing, improved by an average of 45 seconds. Patients experiencing serious medical emergencies, including heart attacks and strokes, were reached more than 17 minutes faster than during previous festive periods.
The improvement was achieved despite the service receiving a similar number of emergency calls to the previous year. LAS handled around 195,000 999 calls in both December 2024 and December 2025, making it one of the busiest periods on record. The service said the gains followed its most comprehensive winter planning programme to date, developed in close collaboration with NHS partners across the capital.
As part of efforts to ease pressure on frontline crews, nearly one in four patients (22.9%) were treated through telephone consultations, allowing ambulances to be prioritised for the most urgent cases. Additional staff were also deployed on ambulances and in the 999 and 111 control rooms to manage demand.
However, pressure on the capital’s ambulance service has intensified again in recent days. This week, LAS reported taking around 7,000 emergency calls a day on Monday and Tuesday, compared with a typical daily average of 5,500. The increase has been linked in part to respiratory illnesses, as well as cold weather exacerbating existing health conditions, with several hospitals across the country declaring critical incidents.
Jason Killens, chief executive of London Ambulance Service, said staff had worked “incredibly hard” over the festive period to improve performance.
“Thanks to our winter planning with London healthcare partners, innovative use of technology and more clinicians caring for patients, we have been able to focus our efforts and make improvements in the care we offer to Londoners, despite some of our busiest weeks,” he said.
He added that the service was “not complacent” and acknowledged ongoing pressures across the wider urgent and emergency care system.
Planning for winter pressures began earlier than ever before, with LAS working alongside partners from the summer to develop a city-wide Winter Plan. Measures included deploying up to 460 ambulances during peak demand, increasing the number of clinicians providing phone-based care, and working closely with hospitals to reduce delays handing patients over at emergency departments.
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