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London Ambulance Service (LAS) recorded more 999 calls in December for patients with the most serious illnesses and injuries than any other month in its history it has been revealed.
During December 2024, LAS attended more than 16,000 ‘Category 1’ calls, which include serious injuries and illnesses such as cardiac arrests, making it its third busiest December.
The month was also seventh busiest ever in the service’s history with 999 call volumes at 92 per cent of the unprecedented demand in March 2020 when the COVID pandemic hit the UK. In the first week of January this year, demand is 20 per cent higher than last year.
The country’s busiest ambulance service agreed the 2024/25 Winter Plan with hospitals and partners across the capital to try and meet this exceptional demand. The plan saw more ambulances on the streets, more emergency care clinicians available to patients over the phone, and strengthened emergency care coordination across hospitals in London. While there are still delays handing over patients at stretched London hospitals, time lost at emergency departments is currently among the lowest in the country.
“We have redoubled our efforts on performance to ensure we reached our sickest patients and answered 999 calls more quickly this year than last year due to three changes.
“First, we put more staff in ambulances, cars and in our control rooms, then we increased the number of patients we treated over the phone to unprecedented levels and finally, we worked with 28 emergency departments in London to take patients to the hospitals with the shortest waits.
“Despite these improvements, we know our response times are not good enough and are very sorry some people waited too long for us to get to them. We will continue to work together with our partners around London to get the best possible care to patients over the winter months and improve our performance this year.”
Daniel Elkeles, Chief Executive of London Ambulance Service.
The high 999 call volumes have been driven by a combination of factors including respiratory and gastrointestinal viruses, cold weather and festive celebrations. Most days in December LAS was treating more than 500 Cat 1 patients compared to around a quarter of days in December 2023.
As London prepared for Christmas, breathing problems increased by 30 per cent on last year while cardiac arrests rose by 20 per cent. As ever, LAS is urging Londoners to use the 999 service wisely: only calling when it’s a serious medical emergency so clinicians can prioritise responding to the most seriously ill and injured patients.
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