158 more West Midlands ambulance staff employed to help with winter pressures as flu season arrives five weeks early
West Midlands Ambulance Service has taken on more than 158 extra staff in a bid to better cope with “perfect storm” winter pressures.
The West Midlands Ambulance Service foundation trust's operations director Nathan Hudson said the service was in a strong position to deal with the expected challenges after setting in motion planning for the winter as far as 12 months ago.
There will be 158 additional workers, some of whom will be student paramedics.
The move comes as NHS bosses reveal that the influenza season has arrived around five weeks earlier than usual, resulting in severe illness affecting mainly older adults, but with school pupils and young adults also becoming unwell.
Mr Hudson said: "We have increased our staffing ahead of winter so that we have more ambulances to get to patients. After successful recruitment campaigning we have several hundred more student paramedics who will be on the road over the Christmas and New Year period.
"There will be 158 more staff to cope with what the winter will be bringing."
"We are in a strong place and well prepared to deal with whatever the winter will throw at us. The planning started last year," he added.
The new workers include extra clinical support staff in its control rooms who deal with 22 per cent of the incoming calls by directing patients to primary care services rather than sending out an ambulance. In addition the service is rolling out a number of 4x4 ambulances across the region to help cope with snowy conditions.
Mr Hudson said the trust was working closely with hospital acute teams and the region's integrated health care boards during what he described as a "very difficult time of year". A previous recruitment drive resulted in hundreds of trainee paramedics joining the service.
Residents are being urged to get the flu jabs as the NHS sees a combination of flu, Covid-19, RSV, and other contagious winter illnesses such as norovirus creating a “perfect storm” which will in turn affect accident and emergency waiting times and ambulance handover times.
Regional chief nursing officer Sally Roberts said: "The winter of 2025/26 brings with it some very real potential challenges for our urgent and emergency care services. Across the system we are already seeing continued high demand for services and increasing pressure from respiratory illnesses.
"Recent surveillance shows flu activity is already elevated, with cases spreading especially amongst school-age children and young adults. The early start to the season means the flu wave may be longer and more drawn-out than typical - not just a spike, but sustained pressure over many weeks.
"The combination with other respiratory viruses such as RSV and norovirus and cold weather increases vulnerability, particularly for elderly and medically vulnerable populations. However, our system has been working harder than ever before to prepare. Keeping patients safe remains a priority and the system will continue to work collaboratively to ensure trends are identified early to maintain flow across the system."
The flu wave period is relating to the timeframes when cases of influenza rise sharply in the population. Vaccines are available in every community; click here to learn more.
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