£2 million extra to help ambulance service meet increase in emergencies

This year alone an extra 162 emergency calls have been made every day compared to 2013.

Bosses welcomed the extra money and said it was 'much needed'.

The money will be given to Sandwell and West Birmingham Clinical Commissioning Group, which commissions the service in the West Midlands.

But it is allocated on the basis of 999 call volumes and must be used to support the whole ambulance service, including the coverage of emergencies in Shropshire.

Calls increase by around five per cent this year, and has done for the past 15 years.

The trust receives around 100 000 calls ever hour, every single day.

But this year it has received an increase of 20,000 between April and July, compared to the same period last year.

West Midlands Ambulance Service spokesman John Hawker said: "Every year 999 calls to the ambulance service increase by around five per cent. This has been the case for around the last 15 years.

"During the year 2013/2014 we received just over 921,000 999 calls, which averages out to West Midlands Ambulance Service responding to just over 100 emergency calls every hour of every day of every week of every month.

"During the months April to July 2013 the trust received 262,960 999 calls.

"During the same period in 2014 we received 282,784, an increase of nearly 20,000 calls.

"That equates to an extra 162 emergency calls every day around the region this year."

The trust has been recruiting more paramedics and front line staff in recent years in a bid to ensure that every emergency vehicle has a paramedic working on it.

Trust chief executive Anthony Marsh said: "The money is allocated to the Trust on the basis of 999 call volumes and I welcome this much needed funding. It will be spent on increasing ambulance cover when we receive it."

It also has the highest percentage of paramedics on its front line of any ambulance service in the country.

Mr Hawker added: "All these investments will ensure that the people of the West Midlands continue to receive the best possible service despite the continued increases in the number of 999 in the area."

Mr Marsh has recently come under fire for his £232,000 a year salary.

Last week he defended his £400-a-week taxi bill to ferry him to his second job at East of England Ambulance Service.