Visitors to Notting Hill Carnival encouraged to celebrate safely

London Ambulance Service (LAS) paramedics are calling on the public to celebrate Notting Hill Carnival safely this bank holiday weekend, as the Service prepares for the biggest street festival in Europe.

The annual festival honouring Caribbean culture has been running since 1966 and is expected to see three million people take to the streets of west London over the August Bank Holiday weekend.

Jack Bromley, Emergency Planning and Resilience Officer, said:

“Notting Hill Carnival is an amazing event for London and brings together so many people in celebration and while we encourage people to have fun, we also want to make sure people stay safe and look after one another.

“This is one of the largest events we attend each year and with a huge increase in visitors in the capital over the weekend, our crews expect to be busy both within the Carnival area and across London.

“We therefore ask all those taking part in the celebrations to make sure to bring with them any regular medication they might need, drink plenty of water, eat regularly and wear appropriate clothing.

“It is important to keep hydrated, especially if the weather is warm or you are drinking alcohol.”

To help keep carnival-goers safe during the two-day festival, there will be an extra 180 LAS staff on duty at the event. Most of these will be clinicians getting to patients in crowded areas on foot or by cycle.

There will be fixed first aid treatment centres and event response teams who operate on foot within an event footprint, jointly staffed by St John Ambulance and London Ambulance Service. In addition we will have cycle responders, specialist responders and frontline ambulance crews.

In addition, there will be teams working in our Specialist Operations Centre (SOC) as part of the joint medical control, as well as in event liaison facilities in logistics and support roles. Jack added: “Our incredible LAS staff, with our partners at St John Ambulance, will be working hard to ensure our patients receive the best possible care, and I would like to take this opportunity to thank those who will be on duty over the bank holiday weekend.”

For those not attending Carnival this year, LAS will be busy looking after the rest of London and is also issuing advice on how to stay safe over the long weekend.

Remember to check you have enough prescription medication to last over the Bank Holiday weekend. Ring NHS111 if you urgently need medical help or advice. The service is staffed by a team of fully trained advisers, supported by experienced nurses and paramedics and is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. You can also use 111 online.  In an emergency, call 999 or go to A&E.

Some local pharmacies may have different opening hours this bank holiday. If you need advice or medication from a pharmacist in London, use the NHS pharmacy finder to check which pharmacies are open near you.