AMBULANCE service staff have been praised for their work after 999 calls rose dramatically over the Jubilee holiday.
In Suffolk, emergency calls rose from 1008 between June 4-7 last year to 1121 between June 2-5 this year, a rise of more than 11per cent.
The East of England Ambulance Service received nearly 9,000 calls from across the region during the bank holiday.
Neil Storey, the interim director of emergency operations, said: “The executive team and I would like to extend our sincere thanks to the exceptionally hard work of staff and volunteers over the four days.
“Public holidays and national celebrations will of course always be a challenge, and this was an incredibly busy weekend with 999 calls in some areas up by more than 17% on the same period last year.
“But the service managed extremely well.
“Performance was excellent over the entire holiday and this simply would not have been achievable without crews, managers, control room and support staff and volunteers giving up a long weekend to ensure patients continued to receive a first rate service from us.”
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