WEST Midlands Ambulance Service says it has been prepared for the recent unprecedented demand for NHS service, due to key decisions made five years ago.

In 2012 the NHS made a decision to increase the number of paramedics on frontline ambulances, and the service says new figures show that decision has been paying huge dividends for patients and other healthcare providers.

The figures show that in 2012, 81 per cent of ambulances had a paramedic on board. while last year that figure rose to an average of 86 per cent - and 90 per cent in November.

At the same time the percentage of emergency patients taken to hospital dropped from 61 per cent in 2012, to an average of 59 per cent in 2016. Last month it was down to just 58 per cent, with some days below 50 per cent.

During the five year period, the total number of incidents attended rose from 767,050 to 933,400 – a 21 per cent rise.

WMAS Chief Executive, Anthony Marsh, said: “We remain on course to become the first trust in the country to have a paramedic on every vehicle, every shift.

"We already achieve this in the more rural counties we serve and are getting steadily closer to that goal in all areas.

“What is absolutely clear is that doing so will allow us to further reduce our conveyance rate to less than 50 per cent which can only be good for patients, but also other health providers.

“I am immensely proud of my staff for all they are doing to use their skills to provide the very highest standards of care."