PARAMEDICS experienced an unwanted and unexpected surge in calls during the busiest weekend of the year so far.

The East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust dealt with nearly 3,000 emergency calls on Saturday alone - or two calls a minute - up almost 30 per cent on the same weekend last year.

Most calls were for falls or traumatic injuries and nobody is quite sure why - although the warm weather is a possible explanation.

Alan Murray, director of service delivery, said: “It is of course a challenge when demand rises so significantly and unexpectedly but our staff and volunteers have done a fantastic job which meant a good service to our patients was maintained during the huge increase in pressure and I’d like to thank each and every one of them.

“It is difficult to pinpoint a single cause at this time, there could be many complex factors, including the weather, but we will be looking into activity further to see if there is any pattern that could inform our ways of working in the future.”