Extra staff called in as Ambulance service faces extremely busy spell

Tuesday 13 March 2018

Over the weekend Guernsey's St John Ambulance and Rescue Service received three times the average number of call outs for the same period.

Between Friday 9 and Sunday 11 March there were 51 situations requiring ambulance assistance meaning staff had to be called in to help out.

On Friday, 22 cases needed an ambulance attending while on Saturday 29 did. Sunday saw call outs returning to the usual working average with 12 cases. 

A spokesman for the St John Ambulance and Rescue Service said while they can't share details of all of the cases with Express, they did "include a number of calls to life threatening emergencies and a road traffic collision."

During the two day busy spell the service had "10 call backs" which is where extra off duty staff are called back in. This could have meant some of the same people came in on more than one occasion to help out. This is part of the St John Ambulance normal contingency plans for such occasions.

The spokesman said they wanted to "thank all the staff who went the extra mile" during the unusually busy spell for a March weekend. 

It’s been a busy few days for #SJEAS. We responded to a total of 51 calls on Friday and Saturday. That’s more than three times the average for that period.
Thanks to all the staff who went the extra mile. #FirstToCare pic.twitter.com/4zTWpIODZG

— St John Guernsey (@stjohngsy) March 12, 2018