How London Ambulance Service is preparing for its busiest night of the year

Extra ambulances, more call handlers and a bigger response will be out on the streets of the capital this New Year's Eve.

That's what is being promised by the London Ambulance Service (LAS) as it gears up to face what will probably be its busiest night of the year.

Many of the call outs will be to alcohol related incidents.

But this time of year also leads to a spike in mental health emergencies and there are the usual winter related bugs.

Hospitals are already struggling with the so-called 'quad-demic' of winter illnesses including flu, COVID-19, RSV and norovirus. And when bed occupancy is high, as it is right now, ambulance handovers take longer.

Read more:
What is the 'quad-demic' and how can you protect yourself?

Inside the LAS call centre this morning in Waterloo, in the borough of Lambeth, the calls were coming in thick and fast.

Calm, measured responses could be heard across the room.

"Is the patient breathing?"

"Listen to my instructions very carefully and I'll talk you through it step by step."

These are just two of the snatched conversations I overheard walking through the room.

On the screens in front of the call handlers, patient details were displayed with maps in the style of the older style A-Z book layouts. Sudbury Town, Acton, Finsbury Park; neighbourhoods sprawled across the metropolis.

It's likely that tomorrow's hotspots will be in central London where thousands will gather to see in the New Year.

But this comes in addition to the strokes, falls and heart attacks that will be attended by crews just as they are every night of the year.

As dawn breaks on 1 January it will mark the end of another extremely busy night - but it will not be the last one that will be faced by the health service this winter.