Ambulance crews were called to an extra 200 emergencies a day over the festive period last year, many of them fuelled by alcohol.
Scottish Ambulance Service staff are bracing themselves for the traditional increase in 999 incidents after dealing with almost 32,000 calls in the 20 days from December 13 to January 1 last season.
The spike in incidents equates to an extra 200 call-outs a day compared to the rest of the year.
The service said many of them were driven by excessive alcohol consumption, which tends to see an increase in assaults and abusive behaviour towards emergency crews.
As the Christmas and Hogmanay party season gets into full swing, ambulance cover will be increased by up to 20% at peak periods.
Scottish Ambulance Service chief executive Pauline Howie said: "The festive period is the busiest and most challenging time of year for our staff.
"They deserve recognition and respect for their dedication to serving their communities and dealing with the many alcohol-related cases that are a result of people over indulging at parties and in pubs across Scotland.
"As they enjoy festive parties, we would ask people to drink sensibly and wrap up well for the weather. This will help us to ensure that ambulances are dispatched to those people who are in most need of our help."
The service said that if crews feel at risk of assault or threatening behaviour they are instructed to wait for support from colleagues or the police.
Health Secretary Shona Robison said: "Our ambulance crews work incredibly hard to provide the best patient care 365 days a year, and this work does not stop at Christmas.
"While others are enjoying their nights out over the festive period, the emergency services are continuing to work around the clock to respond to 999 calls through all conditions and weather.
"We all have a duty to ensure we are using our public services responsibly and keeping them free for those who really need them.
"So, while I hope everyone across Scotland thoroughly enjoys the Christmas and new year festivities, I'd ask people to take on board the advice of the Scottish Ambulance Service and ensure they drink responsibly, keep safe and do not cause any unnecessary burden for our ambulance crews."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article