AMBULANCE crews had a busy Christmas with emergency calls up 20 per cent on the same period last year.

During the five days up to Wednesday, the Tees, East and North Yorkshire Ambulance Service received 2,599 emergency calls, compared to 2,163 during the same period last year.

That included a 34 per cent increase in calls to potentially life-threatening complaints, such as people experiencing chest pain or breathing difficulties, from 463 during the same period last year to 622 this year.

Director of patient services John Darley said: "Despite the massive increase in demand, we have improved the time it took to reach the patient thanks to the excellent efforts of our staff.

"The four-day bank holiday, which has given people more opportunities to celebrate the festive season, might have had some influence on the increase in calls, but Christmas is historically a busy time.

"If hospitals are busy, that has a knock-on effect on where our ambulances can go, so we concentrate on our 999 core business and work with local hospitals to enable a more effective discharge of patients."

With the busy New Year period looming, ambulance bosses have renewed their appeal to encourage people to use the 999 service wisely.

Numerous inappropriate calls were received over the festive period, many of which were alcohol-related.

Mr Darley said: "While we don't want to discourage genuine patients from dialling 999, there are times when people would be better served by a visit to their pharmacist or GP, by attending a walk-in centre or minor injuries unit, or by ringing NHS Direct for advice on 0845 4647."