Surge in ambulance calls in Shropshire as cold bites

West Midlands Ambulance Service received a total of 405 calls in the county in 24 hours, an increase of 13 per cent on the same period last year.

Saturday saw the biggest increase, with 206 calls being taken, a rise of 14.4 per cent over the same day last year. On Sunday there were 199 calls, up by 11.2 per cent.

The news comes after it was revealed that Shropshire's out-of-hours GP service, Shropdoc, had dealt with "unprecedented" demand over the weekend.

West Midlands Ambulance Service chief executive Anthony Marsh said there had been double-digit increases across the region, with Saturday being the sixth busiest day since records began. For the Sunday figures, Shropshire saw the second highest percentage increase, with only Herefordshire coming higher. Mr Marsh said December had been a month of huge demand, with 10 of the 20 busiest days in the history of the service coming during the month.

He praised staff for their "astonishing" efforts. He said: "Having been on the road and in our control rooms I know the pressures that the staff have been under and it is a mark of their dedication that they continue to provide such a high quality of care in very difficult circumstances."

More than 600 people called Shropdoc on Saturday alone – as many calls as would normally be expected over a full weekend.

Dr Caron Morton, of Shropshire Clinical Commissioning Group, said many of the calls would have been better dealt with elsewhere. She said people needing repeat prescriptions and treatments for colds would be best advised to contact their pharmacist.

Doctors at the Princess Royal Hospital in Telford and the Royal Shrewsbury Hospital are reminding patients that accident and emergency wards are for life-threatening conditions only as they brace themselves for New Year's Eve.

More than 700 attended the hospital over the weekend, and hospital chiefs say many of them need not have visited and could have been treated elsewhere.