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

[Thetelly8]

And a&e attendances I would imagine there are less

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.

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

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

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.

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!

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!!

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

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...

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

We needed one too. It arrived in 9 minutes.