London Ambulance Service breaks record for busiest ever week during the heatwave

London Ambulance Service faced its busiest ever week during last week’s heatwave with an unpreceded number of 999 calls and patients treated, surpassing the peak of the Covid pandemic.

The Service received an historic 53,342 999 calls last week (Monday 22 June – Sunday 28 June).

This represents around 140 more 999 calls a day than in the week leading up to the first Covid lockdown on 23 March 2020, where the Service received 52,367 999 calls.

Crews also attended the highest numbers of patients during the June heatwave – 24,607 compared with 21,757 in the week before the Covid lockdown – an increase of 13 percent.

Jason Killens KAM, Chief Executive at London Ambulance Service, said:

“This was a record-breaking week for our weather and a recording-breaking week for London Ambulance Service too. On Friday and Saturday, we recorded the busiest and second busiest day in our history.

“The extreme heat also saw us treat the highest number of patients in a week and attend the highest number of life-threatening emergencies.

“I’d like to thank all of our staff for their efforts in keeping Londoners safe during the unprecedented level of demand, which was the highest in our history.

“Everyone has been incredible at rising to the challenge when Londoners needed us most.

“Thank you for helping us play our part in keeping our patients and our city safe.”

Last week was our busiest week ever for Cat 1 incidents – the most seriously ill patients including people in cardiac arrest or who have stopped breathing.

Friday was also the Service’s busiest day for treating patients over the phone – known as ‘Hear and Treat’ – with around 30% of 999 calls being managed remotely without the need to send an ambulance to the scene. 111 services were also busy too with an 10% increase in activity compared to an overage week.

London Ambulance Service put out nearly 600 additional shifts help keep patients safe during the historic levels of demand.

The Service also worked with hospitals across London to speed up ambulance handovers and get crews back on the road more quickly.

ENDS

Notes to editors

• Last week was our busiest week ever for Cat 1 calls, with 4,181 Cat 1 incidents recorded.
• This compared with 2,442 Cat 1 incidents during the week leading up to the first Covid lockdown – an increase of 1,739 incidents or 71.2 percent.
• Friday and Saturday were our busiest and second busiest day in our history with 8,909 and 8,482 999 calls respectively.
• Last week was our eighth busiest week ever for Cat 2 calls, with 15,302 Cat 2 incidents recorded, compared with 15,178 Cat 2 incidents during 16–22 March 2020.
• Cat 2 emergencies include strokes, difficulty breathing and chest pains.