Busiest month for ambulance crews

Emergency call outs rose by more than 36%

One of the region's ambulance services has had its busiest month on record, according to new figures.

The East Anglian Ambulance NHS Trust (EAAT) responded to 15,437 calls in October, compared with 11,379 for the same month three years ago.

The service also managed to reach more than three-quarters of category A life-threatening calls within the government target of eight minutes.

The ambulance trust covers Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire.

Rob Lawrence, from EAAT, said the good response times were helped by the high level of technology at the call centre.

"As soon as a caller dials 999, using a caller identification system we can see where they're calling from - be it landline or mobile phone.

"We can very quickly see where they are and then deploy the appropriate ambulance response to them."

Mr Lawrence also said that everyone within the ambulance service had dealt with the increased pressure of more calls "superbly".