Busy night for Shropshire ambulance crews on 'Black Friday'

Ambulance crews in Shropshire had a busy time last night, on an evening that's the most popular for Christmas parties and festive nights out.

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’ was up by 18 in Shropshire as crews dealt with 88 calls compared to 70 in 2014.

The Trust ensured there were considerably more resources on duty across the Region than a normal Friday night to cope with the predicted demand.

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.”