The chief executive of the Welsh ambulance service has urged New Year’s Eve revellers to drink in moderation and eat before they begin partying to help it cope with an ongoing “critical incident”.
Jason Killens admitted people may already have come to harm because of delays in paramedics reaching them and said the crisis was likely to continue for the rest of Tuesday and into Wednesday.
Killens said: “I expect the pressure will continue through the rest of today. Of course it’s New Year’s Eve and we expect to see a busy evening and the early hours of the morning. People out partying tonight can help us.
“We want people to enjoy themselves and have a good time but drink in moderation. Eat something before you do that and if you’re out with friends and they do have one too many, please do look after them.”
Speaking to the BBC, Killens said the poor weather that is forecast would add “additional complications”. He added: “Communities can continue to help us whilst we do remain under extreme pressure by only calling us when they really do need to and using the 111 service or accessing care from their pharmacist or GP where that’s appropriate.”
The critical incident was declared on Monday evening at a point when about 350 emergency calls were waiting to be answered and more than half of the service’s vehicles were also waiting to hand over patients outside hospitals.
Killens said: “I want to say sorry to patients who waited a very long time yesterday and continue to wait much longer than we would like this morning.”
Asked if lives were being put at risk, he said: “There’s no doubt that regrettably some patients that have waited longer may have come to harm because of those waits but of course we always prioritise every single emergency call and respond to the sickest patients first.”
Killens said: “This is certainly one of the worst periods I have seen. We’ve always seen pressure at winter because of flu and other respiratory viruses that are circulating but the last 24/48 hours have been particularly acute for us.”
The Welsh ambulance service advised people on New Year’s Eve to:
Consume alcohol in moderation, eating before they drink and alternating alcoholic beverages with soft drinks.
Pre-arrange transport home, and never drive under the influence of drink or drugs.
Avoid high-risk activities such as using fireworks – as well as burns, smoke inhalation from bonfires and fireworks can irritate respiratory conditions, including asthma.
On Monday morning, before the critical incident was declared, the service said there had been a significant increase in the number of calls.
Judith Bryce, the assistant director of operations, said: “The number of immediately life-threatening ‘red’ calls we’ve had in the last seven days remains very high, with the service receiving 1,716 calls compared with just 1,213 for the same period last year.
“Demand has also increased significantly on our NHS 111 Wales service and has seen us answer over 1,200 more calls compared with the same week in 2023.”
