AMBULANCE chiefs have issued an urgent appeal to the public after being swamped with 999 calls in the run-up to Christmas.

Hard-pressed ambulance bosses want people to think twice before making an emergency call to the ambulance service.

The plea has taken on particular urgency on the eve of what ambulance crews call “Black Friday”, the peak day for 999 calls resulting from over-indulgence at office parties.

This follows an unprecedented surge in 999 calls to the North-East Ambulance Service in the past two weeks.

The worst-hit areas have been County Durham, Darlington, Newcastle, North Tyneside and Northumberland.

Staff have responded to 14,700 emergency calls in the North-East in a fortnight – an increase of 17 per cent on the number of calls at the same time last year.

Ambulance bosses are particularly concerned that the calls that were initially treated as being life-threatening – 4,325 – increased by 42 per cent compared to the same period last year.

As a result of this increased pressure, the service has put its fleet of ambulances on a heightened alert.

Usually at this time of year, ambulance crews would be on a level two alert. The maximum is five.

But because of increased demand from the public, ambulance service managers have moved crews up to level three – recognising that the they are under “severe pressure”.

The increase in calls from the public is believed to have had a knock-on effect on the length of time it takes for ambulance crews to hand over patients to hospital.

In the current financial year, 2008-9, there have been 20,542 incidents in which the handover took longer than 15 minutes, a 38 per cent increase on the same period in the previous financial year.

Paul Liversidge, director of operations for the service, said: “We are coming under increasing pressure in the run-up to what was already set to be one of our busiest times of the year.”

Mr Liverside urged anyone who is not seriously ill or injured to consider other ways of getting help before dialling 999.

“This can include looking after themselves at home, calling NHS Direct on 0845-46-47, or even making their own way to hospital, because arriving in an ambulance does not mean they will be seen more quickly.”

In County Durham and Darlington, there were 3,142 emergency calls between December 1 and 14.

This is 14 per cent higher than the same period last year, of which 956 calls were categorised as life-threatening, an increase of 41 per cent.

A spokeswoman for the Yorkshire Ambulance Service said its staff were also experiencing higher than expected demand.