THE North West Ambulance Service received a call every nine seconds during New Year’s night.

Control room staff dealt with 2,283 emergency calls from midnight on New Year’s Eve to 6am on New Year’s Day.

The busiest period was between 2am and 3am, during which it received 513 emergency calls – one emergency call every seven seconds.

Paramedics responded to 596 serious and life threatening ‘category A’ 999 calls, compared with 542 for the same period last year.

Examples of calls included 21 large scale incidents such as assaults involving large crowds, 33 stabbings, four car crashes and three house fires.

There was one assault on ambulance staff in Lancashire and Cumbria, with a further 11 attacks in Greater Manchester and Cheshire and Merseyside.

Derek Cartwright, director of paramedic emergency services at NWAS, said extra resources were deployed to tackle the anticipated surge.

He said: “This included an additional 21 rapid response vehicles, 46 emergency ambulances and extra staff within the three emergency control centres.

“Despite this sterling effort, 12 crews were shockingly assaulted while carrying out their work, an intolerable situation, particularly when you consider they are trying to provide patient care and save lives, often in very difficult circumstances.”