NHS New Year's Eve advice: Plan, eat and stay warm

Make a plan, eat and wrap up warm - that is the key advice for New Year's Eve revellers from the London Ambulance Service (LAS) ahead of its busiest night of the year.

A 999 call was received every 10 seconds at its peak on New Year's Day last year, the LAS said, and the service receives 2,000 more calls than the daily average.

Becky Owen, associate director of operations, advised people to plan how they are getting to and from their event and to "wrap up - it is supposed to be really cold".

"If you are planning to drink, make sure that you have a meal, make sure that you are having soft drinks beforehand so that you don't end your night and begin your new year on the back of an ambulance."

The peak time for the ambulance service is between 01:00 and 02:00 GMT on New Year's Day.

Ms Owens said the service had about 140 extra staff on shift for New Year's Eve "both in the call centres as well as out on the road".

She said the service would be working with partners across London including the police, the coastguard and various other partners "to make sure that we are as prepared as possible to support everybody across London".

"We at London Ambulance Service really want everyone to have a fantastic time," she added.

LAS said people should only use 999 for life-threatening emergencies and NHS 111 and online should be used for other incidents.

Listen to the best of BBC Radio London on Sounds and follow BBC London on Facebook, X and Instagram. Send your story ideas to [email protected]