Ambulance

This is the first episode of a new series of the award-winning Ambulance. Filmed earlier this year, at an unprecedentedly difficult time for the NHS. Cameras focus on a new cast of characters drawn from the staff of North West Ambulance Service as they care for the 1.4 million people of Merseyside.

As the second wave of the pandemic grips the entire country, the mounting pressure on the NHS in the north west is monitored in ambulance control by the team in the Regional Operational Coordinating Centre. Twenty percent of staff are off due to covid today, if demand continues to increase emergency plans will need to be implemented to enable the remaining staff to cope.

The morning shift begins with a 999 call in progress for a patient who has fallen 20 foot from a ladder. Advanced Paramedic, Naomi, is immediately dispatched. She is the most senior clinician on duty and leads patient care on scene. They make the decision that the patient will need to be immediately rushed to the nearest hospital.

The night shift is in full swing, as we join the team in control responding to reports of a man walking on the railway tracks. Ian an Advanced Paramedic is immediately dispatched to the scene. When he arrives he finds the patient on the platform having been clipped by a train. Although his physical injuries are of most immediate concern.

Kate & Danielle book on for the nightshift and are immediately dispatched to a patient who is struggling at home with a bleeding leg. It takes seven minutes before they arrive on scene to find their understandably distressed patient.

At the start of the night shift crews are booking on across Merseyside, a quiet start is quickly broken by a 999 call on behalf of a 13-year-old patient who is stuck on the bus unable to stand or walk. Emily & Lois are the closest crew and when they arrive on scene it is clear the patient has badly dislocated her knee.