Paramedics’ warning over the dangers of excess drinking this New Years’
Camden ranked second in the list of booze-fuelled calls last December. - Credit: Archant
New Years Eve is traditionally the busiest night of the year for LAS, while Camden ranked second in most alcohol-related calls last December.
In the run up to New Year’s Eve, traditionally the London Ambulance Service’s busiest night of the year for serious emergencies, it is urging Londoners to think about the consequences of drinking too much.
It follows a similar warning given earlier this month ahead of ‘Mad Friday’ and comes after Camden logged 358 drink-related calls last December - second only to Westminster’s 532 out of a city-wide total of 6,244 over the month.
Deputy Director of Operations, Kevin Bate said: “At 2am on New Year’s Day 2016, 43 per cent of the incidents the Service attended were alcohol-related. Every ambulance crew responding to someone who has simply had too much to drink, is an ambulance crew not responding to an ill or injured person who needs them.
“As well as our call takers answering hundreds more emergency calls than usual, we will have hundreds of ambulance crews on London’s streets responding to patients who need our help.
“In addition, our medics will be out on foot alongside colleagues from St John Ambulance, to offer help to those at the central London celebrations.
“Many of the people we’re called to on New Year’s Eve are unresponsive. It’s not possible to tell over the phone whether they have a serious illness or injury, or have simply had too much to drink, so we have to prioritise them immediately.
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“This means other patients such as an elderly faller or someone involved in a road traffic collision will wait longer for an ambulance.”
To help respond to an influx in alcohol-related incidents, London Ambulance will have medics on hand at nine treatment centres across the capital throughout the night, to look after people who have had too much to drink.
Mr Bate added: “We want Londoners to have a great time this New Year but, we also need them to look after themselves and their friends.
“Too often our crews can spend much of their night caring for people who are vomiting, violent or unconscious after a night out drinking, leaving them unable to respond to other emergencies.”
