Extended opening hours have contributed to an unprecedented rise in emergency calls on New Year's Eve.

The Sussex Ambulance Service 999 control room staff dealt with more than one call a minute as revellers spilled out of pubs and clubs later than ever.

The centre received 260 calls from Brighton and Hove over New Year's Eve and New Year's Day, which contributed to a county-wide increase of 13 per cent on last year.

The busiest stretch was between 10pm on December 31 and 3am the following morning when the volume of calls increased by 35 per cent on last year's peak period.

A Sussex Ambulance spokeswoman said 15 extra crews were brought in to provide cover on the night but they were still at full stretch.

One third of the city's 1,000 licensed premises have been granted extensions to their opening hours.

At least 15 venues, including supermarkets, petrol stations, a cinema and several clubs, are allowed to open 24 hours a day.

Sussex Ambulance said the gut feeling among control room staff was that the relaxed regulations on drinking had contributed.

The spokeswoman said: "This has been one of the busiest, if not the busiest, New Year's Eve we have dealt with.

"The control room noticed that the peak time, which normally peters out at about 1am to 2am, went on for longer and we were still responding to calls closer to 5am.

"Many of the calls we dealt with were drink-related. This included injuries from assaults and people simply drinking too much alcohol.

"However, there were also other types of emergencies to deal with, such as a lady in the East Grinstead area who went in to labour and we had to talk her through the early stages over the phone.

"Despite the pressures, we were able to get to her within five minutes and help her."

Sussex Police received 900 calls between midnight and 8am, an increase of ten per cent.

Sue Heard, Sussex Police spokeswoman for Brighton and Hove, said: "We had a busy night but there were no major problems in terms of crime.

"There were alcohol-related incidents that had to be dealt with ... but, comparatively and anecdotally, there was not a major increase in crime.

"We did notice the number of cases we dealt with had spread out over a longer period of time. We were still dealing with cases well into the early hours."

About 110 people were treated at the Royal Sussex County Hospital in Brighton between 8pm on New Year's Eve and 8am the following morning compared with 88 last year.

A hospital spokesman said more than half of the cases were alcohol-related.

He said: "Staff seemed to deal with more people before midnight than afterwards, which suggests people were starting a little earlier than usual and overdid it.

"It was busier than a normal weekend but no more than we expected."

Worthing Hospital said it had had a busy night but there was no significant increase in cases.

A spokeswoman for Eastbourne District General Hospital said: "It's difficult to say at this point how many of the attendances were alcohol-related although over the New Year period, there is always a rise in alcohol-related incidents.

"Extra staff were brought in to cope with this anticipated rise. According to A&E staff we have not seen a rise in the number of people attending A&E as a result of the new legislation."