Ambulance call outs have surged 17% over the last six months compared to 2017, and St Johns' Senior Officer has said this was a trend they expected to continue.
That means an additional 400 extra calls were dealt with between February and July 2018 compared to the same time last year.
Of the total number of calls responded to, some 700 were deemed Priority One – immediately life threatening emergencies. Falls accounted for the greatest number of responses.
Senior Officer Dean de la Mare put the increase down to an ageing population.
“In the early part of the year winter pressures resulted in an increased demand for the ambulance service," he said.
"People tend to stay at home longer now, rather than go into residential homes, and they then rely on the ambulance service if anything goes wrong. We have certainly seen the number of calls for falls and chest pains going up.
"The number of incidents peaked in March and April, but the overall trend has been for a busy year so far compared to 2017. The number of calls in July was also significantly up on previous years.”
More off-duty staff have had to be called in to provide cover and respond to emergencies around the island as the demand has increased. This has been to ensure the same level of capability is maintained no matter the level of demand. Overall, the total number of ‘call backs’ for off-duty staff during those six months was 250.
Chief Officer Ali Marquis [pictured] added that she wanted to thank all the staff who have made themselves available to return to work "during this busy time".
"Our call-back system is designed to ensure emergency ambulance cover can be maintained at times of peak demand and I am grateful to our clinicians for their commitment and flexibility, and to their families for their understanding," she said.
Mr de la Mare said that while St John always monitored its resilience very closely, for now, they believed their resources and staff were sufficient to deal with the demand they faced.
Despite this though, he said they did expect the trend of more calls to continue to rise year on year.
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