TWITTER users were given an insight into a busy shift at the Yorkshire Ambulance Service this weekend.

Staff at the Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) gave a behind-the-scenes look at some of more than 2,000 calls received in 24 hours on Friday into Saturday, more than 800 of which were life threatening.

Jobs also included alpaca and ferret bites, road traffic collisions, drunken assaults, falls, mental health assistance and even delivery of a baby.

More than 60 tweets were sent from @YorksAmbulance, leading to an additional 100 people following the service throughout Friday, taking their total number of followers to more than 7,000.

Some callers with less serious illnesses or injuries were referred to NHS 111, given clinical advice over the phone or directed to a more appropriate service, including one caller who phoned to report a chipped tooth, several who phoned to requested lifts home, and one who hurt his foot while dancing.

Dr David Macklin, executive director of operations at YAS, said he hoped the exercise would help people realise how busy the 999 service was, and encourage them to think about whether they required an ambulance before phoning.

He said: "Our staff can deal with anything from coordinating help to road traffic collisions, giving instructions on how to resuscitate someone who has stopped breathing and helping to deliver a baby.

"Tweeting about some of the calls we receive will give everyone an insight of the huge variety of work we deal with and provide a better understanding of what happens when you call 999."

Carrie Whitham, locality director of the EOC, said: "The tweetathon has been a great opportunity for us to give the public an insight into what happens in our emergency operations centres and the variety of 999 calls we handle. We are a very busy service and have been able to share details about just some of the 2,000 or more calls we deal with on a daily basis.

"I’m very proud of our team and the fantastic job they do providing vital assistance and reassurance to callers who find themselves in an emergency situation. We’ve had some very positive feedback on our tweets and it’s something we’d like to do again in the future."