Release Date :  Tuesday 5 January 2010

Hogmanay was the busiest night of the year for the Scottish Ambulance Service, which dealt with 2,247 calls to its 999 centres across Scotland between midnight and 7am on January 1st. This is an increase of five percent on last year’s total of 2,141 calls.

Arrangements were made for extra crews and control room staff to provide cover across the country and Edinburgh experienced the biggest increase in call volumes.

Totals for each of the three Emergency Medical Dispatch Centres between midnight and 7am were:
(Previous year totals in brackets)

• Edinburgh – 907 calls (757)
• Cardonald – 971 calls (1090)
• Inverness – 369 calls (294)

A spokesperson for the Scottish Ambulance Service said:

“Hogmanay is always our busiest night and this year was no different as we dealt with a high volume of calls across the country.  Activity at times was intense, with most of the calls occurring between 2am and 4am. All staff on duty last night had to cope with an exceptional workload and they did so admirably.”