Last year busiest for ambulance service
GUERNSEY’S emergency ambulance service experienced its busiest year ever in 2019 with 5,658 incidents.
The total number of incidents for the year to the end of December 2019 was 2.5% higher than the previous 12 months, but represents a significant increase in demand over the past five years, with a 25% increase since 2014.
May was the busiest month for the service last year with 599 cases. On one day that month the service responded to a total of 29 incidents, which is almost double the daily average.
Chief ambulance officer at St John Ambulance Guernsey Mark Mapp said although the increase year-on-year was only small, the figures show a continuing trend of growth.
‘The service has experienced some periods of high demand with as many as 29 cases in a single day, which demonstrates the dynamic and unpredictable nature of ambulance work.’
The service also saw some busy periods in the autumn and over the Christmas and New Year period, with a peak of 28 calls on a single day in September and 25 calls on one day in December.
During periods of high demand, off-duty staff have been called back into work to maintain resilience and senior officers have been deployed to back up crews on emergency calls.
Mr Mapp said: ‘I am very grateful for the commitment and flexibility of the team, especially those clinicians who have made themselves available to return to work when they are off duty to provide care and treatment for patients in their time of need.’
During 2019, staff from the emergency ambulance service were also deployed to Sark to provide cover for the island doctor and to Alderney to provide emergency cover for the Alderney Ambulance Service.
