Ambulances in Sussex coped with 8,500 more emergency calls last year than during the previous 12 months.

The surge in the number of 999 calls represents an increase of 6.5 per cent.

The number of life-threatening incidents dealt with by Sussex Ambulance Service fell slightly, but calls to deal with other injuries rose.

There were 25,000 emergency calls during the year. Half were for falls, chest pains, unconsciousness and road accidents.

The non-emergency Patient Transport Service, meanwhile, carried 500,000 people, or 2,000 a day.

The rise in demand is putting pressure on budgets and ambulance workers.

Chief executive David Griffiths said: "Our staff are just working harder and harder all the time."

He said the increasing number of calls was reflected nationally but it was difficult to say why it was happening.

He added: "Some of them, I would not call them malicious calls, but they are calls that could be dealt with in a different way."

Ambulance bosses hope new initiatives, such as the NHS Direct telephone service, which is expected to start operating in Sussex next month, should be able to deal with some non-urgent calls.