To wonder if as many ambulances are called out over the Christmas period

We needed one too. It arrived in 9 minutes.

We were in Majors with DD on Christmas Eve last year. It was full. One of the paramedics said people with mental illness, etc tend to decide they’d rather be in hospital at Christmas. I remember several - one had jumped out of a window, but hadn’t really hurt themself.

I work for an ambulance trust and was working nightshift on Christmas Eve. It was really quiet. We had quite a number of elderly people who had fallen and drunk suicidal people to deal with but no more than normal. I'm working Boxing Day night and that is usually busy with threatened/attempted suicides ( many of them drunk) and drink induced head injuries. I hate alcohol, it it causes more problems than any other drug by a country mile.

A few years ago I had to take my newborn to hospital on Christmas Day about 8pm. It was surprisingly busy. She was admitted and in for over a week with RSV.
our ward was full the whole time.

Also dp’s mum has been in hospital this Xmas eve, today and ongoing with sepsis. Apparently it was busy last night.

We were in an and e on Christmas Day a few years ago and it was very busy- though we were living in a very large town with not enough infrastructure.

we were there with quite a scary seizure but it was full. Quite a few suicide attempts, or suspected. And memorably a nurse who herself and her colleagues had thought had suffered a heart attack. Turned out to be a panic attack and she couldn’t get anyone to cover her shift. We had spent months in ICU the year before and it was unsurprising to see the toll it could take. That Christmas was horrendous.

I remember talking to a chap who'd just worked the Christmas day to Boxing day shift about 15 years ago on the emergency line. His highlights were the two people who had asked for an ambulance for:

1. A sore toe. Apparently it had been hurting for two weeks. No, it hadn't got worse and it wasn't bad enough to need pain killers. But it did need an ambulance desperately.
2. A sore throat. Not a "can't swallow" sore throat, or even an other health issues put this as a needs to be checked category. They needed an ambulance as everyone in their family had drunk so couldn't drive them to A&E. The reason why they were phoning after everyone had drunk was they'd wanted to have their Christmas dinner first. They phoned back three times to complain...

My vet said Christmas was the quietest time for them. Very few owners called for their pets to be seen if they did it was a true emergency

We had to phone for one one Christmas Day when my son decided to wear a cup of tea when he was a toddler. This was a good few years ago now but the ambulance was with us within 15 mins. When we got to general a&e it was quiet but paeds a&e was quite busy!!

I think most people assume it’s viral and will take care of itself in a few days and only after it persisted they seek help. Isn’t that the advice on the nhs websites as well…

Sorry you had to stay till so late today though.

Editing to add I have just realised you said weeks, not days!

DH needed an ambulance on 27th December last year - for a suspected heart attack.

We must have missed the quiet Christmas days because it was absolutely heaving.

The ambulance did get to him in a pretty short time though and he did get to lie down on a trolley in A&E (just as well as he wasn't able to stand or sit). He was well looked after despite the business. It was also an extreme reaction to a virus rather than a heart attack which was a huge relief.

I'm hoping for a much less dramatic Christmas this year.

Visited my Mum in hospital today and there was only one ambulance outside A & E when there are usually at least 6 or 7.

Ds works for the ambulance service as a call handler. He was working last night and said it was pretty quiet.

When I left ED at 8pm , we’d had 50 less attendances and 10 less ambulances than yesterday. Admissions much the same as any other day.

Really?! 2 years ago, I had to take an elderly relative to A&E on Boxing Day, we got there before midday and he was admitted about 9pm. That was a long bloody day in a busy waiting room...

Our maternity triage (essentially a&e for anything pregnancy-related) is always much quieter at Christmas time

I’m not so sure. I’ve had one Xmas where an ambulance took minutes, and the following one took over an hour - which was horrendous , both seizures. We were lucky there wasn’t a worse outcome tbh

GP surgeries closed so folk turn to the ambulance service. It’s usually a mad period for us all
working in front line health care.

Going back a few years now but I used to work in ambulance control.

Christmas Day - generally very q-word. I'd volunteer for Christmas day overtime every year; double time for easy work. Downside - everyone calling was very ill, and never fun to take a cardiac arrest call on Christmas Day.

Boxing Day - not quite a normal day but busier.

27th December - Vile.

30th and 31st December - the absolute worst.

My DH had to call 111 last year because he started feeling rough with a sore throat on Christmas Eve and had full blown quinsy by Christmas morning. Within an hour he had been seen by a pharmacist and given antibiotics. There was nobody else in the emergency clinic.

Oh I see. Then that is very annoying that they waited until Christmas to get help. And they were presumably feeling very ill as well.
Hope you get a bit of a break now anyway.

I'm sure I've read that the death spike rises after Christmas and New Year - it's usually put down to people hanging on for that little bit but wonder if it's putting off or struggling to access medical care.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-25680933

"We know that the peak occupancy weeks are just before and after Christmas - you get a lull during Christmas and hospitals are much emptier because people understandably don't want to go in during that time, but we do find that is also the period where mortality rates reach their peak," says Roger Taylor, director of research at Dr Foster.

"Your risk of death over that period is much higher if you are unfortunate to be admitted to hospital."
The latest figures available show that the highest number of deaths in hospital come in the first two weeks of January, where 4,300 deaths occur weekly - but that's during a time when 80-90,000 people a week are coming to hospital.
In the last week of December, the number of deaths is lower at just over 4,000, but there are only 63,000 people coming in.

Years ago the local council decided not to do any gritting to save money. I arrived at work to rows and rows of mostly elderly people with fractured wrists, head injuries, black eyes. Brilliant planning.

I had to take DS to a paediatric A&E two days ago as he was having a bad wheezing episode. Because it was an emergency we were taken straight through rather than have to wait, but it did seem quite quiet compared to usual. Waiting room had just a couple of families waiting and there were lots of empty treatment rooms. Usually it’s packed.

4 of my close family are Ambulance personnel and they say it usually gets busier in the late afternoon evening. They are all working today.