Ambulance staff and volunteers have been praised for helping thousands of patients this Christmas amid recording-breaking demand - with nearly 800 more calls received compared to last year.

Cambs Times: Ambulance staff in the east have received almost 800 more calls this Christmas compared to last year.Ambulance staff in the east have received almost 800 more calls this Christmas compared to last year. (Image: Archant)

From 7pm on Christmas Eve to 11pm on Boxing Day, the three control rooms at the East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust (EEAST) handled 6,849 calls.

This is compared to 6,021 in the same period last December.

And on Tuesday (December 27), 3,624 calls were handled, compared to 2,846 on the same day last year.

Sandy Brown, director of Nursing and Clinical Quality, thanked patient-facing members of the service “in the midst of unprecedented demand”.

“I’m very thankful to our teams for the hard work they are putting into responses to patients, and with call demand up so much higher than last year, their commitment really does shine through,” she said.

“These spikes in demand are experienced nationally and are hard to explain, but as we see colder weather affect people who are vulnerable of norovirus and other transferrable illnesses, we do urge people to use their common sense - try and minimise risks so something doesn’t worsen and then need emergency treatment.”

For more information, visit www.eastamb.nhs.uk.