AMBULANCE staff working on “Mad Friday” were praised for their hard work and expertise by Richmond MP Rishi Sunak.
Mr Sunak visited Northallerton Ambulance Station on the final Friday before Christmas – usually one of the busiest days of the year due to alcohol-related incidents.
He met clinical supervisor Darren Smith and paramedic practitioner Nicky Hebb, who this year will be working on Christmas Day, and was briefed on the tasks crews face in the run-up to Christmas by the Yorkshire Ambulance Service Dales locality manager Pete Summerfield.
He explained how December was always the busiest month for crews, the Dales district typically dealing with more than 1,600 calls of which about half were emergency calls.
A number of calls were unnecessary, he said, and he appealed to the public to use common sense when seeking medical help. That day the Yorkshire Ambulance Service took a call from someone seeking help with a bunion.
Mr Sunak echoed Mr Summerfield’s call.
He said: “Our ambulance crews do a tough job in sometimes difficult circumstances. At this time of the year, when the rest of us are at home with our families, they, along with all the emergency services, particularly deserve our thanks.”