Storm Ciaran was quietest day of 2023 for ambulance service

On average the service responds to about 19 calls a day, but there were just four on 2 November – the day of the dangerous storm, which felled dozens of trees, closed shops and brought ports to a standstill.

Over the year the service responded to 6,857 emergency cases.

That was just a 3% rise on the previous year, as demand has plateaued following exponential increases in recent years.

One in 20 of the calls were to immediately life-threatening 'category one' calls.

Head of operations Dean de la Mare said 2023 was very similar to the previous year.

‘St John Ambulance and Rescue Service has been proactive in raising awareness of calling 999, how calls are triaged and alternative care options, such as pharmacy and GPs,’ he said.

‘The figures demonstrate that demand is not constant, it can change from day to day, or even hour to hour.

‘There were occasions when we experienced short periods of exceptional demand, with all of the ambulance crews committed.

‘We have contingency plans for these circumstances with additional off-duty staff called back to work and senior officers deployed to maintain cover for emergency cases.’

The non-emergency patient transfer service also responded to 3,031 non-emergency transfers in 2023 – a 5% increase on 2022.

The busiest month of the year was December, with 637 emergency cases that were attended by the service.

However, the busiest day was in May when ambulance crews responded to 36 cases in 24 hours – that is nearly double the daily average.

There were also spikes in daily demand in April and December.

The Ambulance and Rescue Service is also supported by volunteer community first responders, who are trained and equipped to respond to life-threatening incidents in their immediate vicinity.

In 2023 CFRs attended 43 clinically appropriate cases.

In 2023 just over a quarter of patients were discharged on scene following assessment by ambulance clinicians, rather than taken to hospital.