As of 5pm today, Monday 10 August, 1,599 calls have come into ambulance via 111.
That is tracking close to Monday 3 August, when 1,707 calls had been received by 5pm and the day finished on 2,404 calls.
Monday 3 August broke the record for our busiest day at the time but was surpassed three times that week – Thursday 6 August (2,545 calls), Saturday 8 August (2,562) and Sunday 9 August (2,486). It also contributed to our busiest week on record, with 16,415 calls in total. That is more than a thousand higher than the previous week's 15,289 calls, which had itself broken the record of 14,984 set last winter.
Despite today's workload, our emergency call handlers have answered 95.6% of calls within 15 seconds.
There is no single cause that is driving the increase in 111 calls for an ambulance.
Winter demand generally reflects a combination of seasonal respiratory illness, people experiencing exacerbations of existing health conditions, injuries and other emergencies, and normal urgent demand occurring on top of the seasonal increase.
The record workload reflects pressures across the community and wider health system.
Attributable to Stuart Cockburn*, Hato Hone St John General Manager Ambulance Operations
*Cockburn is pronounced KOH-BURN