Paramedics help a clubber into an ambulance. Photograph: Matt Cardy/Getty
If you're still trying to take the edge off your new year's hangover, spare a thought for the emergency crews who have been on duty over the last few nights.
Paramedic Tom Reynolds, of Random Acts of Reality, blogged throughout the night for the Guardian.
Elsewhere in the blogosphere, ambulance crew member EmmaBee, who blogs at Why do I do this job? recounts a New Year's Eve of riots, car crashes and suspected cardiac arrests.
She concludes: "An interesting night although not as madly busy as we thought. Looking back I think you can lay all or most of the blame for the incidents on alcohol. That was just the highlights. The rest was the usual mix of drunks, fights and old people falling out of bed."
Xf of the Paramedic's diary reports an evening consisting of six emergency calls, including one from "a very well-known timewaster".
The ambulance arrived soon enough and I apologised to the crew in advance but it was unnecessary because they knew him too. Still, he said he had chest pain and we can't ignore that, so he went to hospital. I know he's lonely and I know he is old but he is aware of what he's doing and one day it will cost him dearly. Crying wolf with the ambulance service will always cost you in the end.
Medical student Merys Jones, of I am not a drain on society, was also on duty.
So, instead of drinking myself into oblivion last night, I did the whole skint student thing and actually offered to cover a shift at the hospital. Let's face it, if I can barely afford to feed myself post-Christmas, I certainly can't afford to drink myself rotten.Looking back, hindsight is an amazing thing, and the medical assessment unit (which is where people from A&E often come) probably wasn't the best place to be for new year's eve. On the plus side, I saw a whole barrel load of new things last night.
Meanwhile, the team at Dr Rant have some predictions for the year ahead, including a sighting of the health secretary, Alan Johnson ("I feel that 2008 will be the year Alan says/does something"); and a new reality show for junior medics (Any Job Will Do).
They conclude:
There will be blood in the corridors of Whitehall because Gordon's picked on the wrong group of 40,000 professionals this time, and GPs aren't going to roll over and play dead. We will not do more work for less money, and neither will we chase political objectives instead of doing clinical work that has been proven to actually make people healthier. Opening on a Saturday morning may win Clunking Clunker a few votes, but it won't really make anyone healthier, and if opening on a Saturday morning comes instead of during the week, those who need access will lose out to those who want access.
And, finally, Traumaqueen shares his quote of the evening: "C'mon, you said you wanted a Scottish New Year ... what could be more Scottish than getting arrested for being drunk?"
