Ambulance crews prepare for busiest night of the year on New Year’s Eve

London Ambulance Service is making final preparations for one of its busiest nights of the year as London welcomes in 2025.

There will be more than 50 extra ambulances on the road overnight on 31 December – an evening where the Service traditionally sees up to 2,000 more calls than the daily average.

During the peak time between 2am and 3am on New Year’s Day last year, a 999 call was received every 11 seconds.

The festive season leading to New Year’s Eve has already been very busy for the service, with a 20 per cent increase in the number of 999 calls received this Christmas Eve compared to the same day last year – that’s almost 1,000 additional calls.

With temperatures expected to drop and weather warnings in place with strong winds and rain forecast, people are being urged to take extra care.

Strategic Commander Becky Owen, who is overseeing the service’s operations on New Year’s Eve, said: “Happy New Year to Londoners and all those visiting, from all of us at London Ambulance Service.

“We hope everyone celebrating has a fantastic night but please take care of yourself and others – we really don’t want your night to end with you in the back of an ambulance.

“And if you are heading out for drinks, do take a few steps to stay safe. Have a meal before you start drinking, and try to have some soft drinks too. Make sure you know how you’re getting home, check travel arrangements and as it is forecast to be cold and wet, make sure you wrap up warmly.”

London Ambulance Service is already experiencing one of the busiest winters on record with more than 7000 999 calls in one day – a rate of calls not seen since the pandemic.

This New Year’s Eve almost 200 additional staff will be working to care for London. Some of those will be working in central London in the ticketed area where thousands of people are expected to attend the Mayor of London’s celebrations.

Here more than 50 clinicians working alongside volunteers from St John Ambulance will be on foot, so they can quickly reach ill and injured people in crowded areas.

The Service will also have extra people working in its control rooms and clinical hubs. It will also open its dedicated special operations centre to coordinate and dispatch resources. The event team will work closely with police and Transport for London throughout the night.

For the rest of London, there will be around 100 extra clinicians out on the road in ambulances responding to 999 calls.

Becky added: “Thanks to everyone working on New Year’s Eve – not just at London Ambulance Service – but all our colleagues in the emergency services and the NHS.

“The public can help us all by being sensible – only call us when it’s a serious medical emergency so we can continue to respond to the most seriously ill and injured patients.

“We have been seeing an increase in alcohol-related incidents over the past few weeks and many of these are avoidable – and could mean we don’t have an ambulance crew for a patient who needs us.”

People who have an urgent medical need are being urged to consider using NHS 111 online.

Many urgent treatment centres stay open 24-hours a day for conditions including sprains, broken limbs and minor scalds and burns.

Advice and medication is available from pharmacies and you can use the NHS pharmacy finder to check where there is one open near you.