Ambulance

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BBC One West Midlands

Documentaries

Factual: Health & Wellbeing

Documentary series taking a detailed look at ambulance services.

Life and death decisions on the frontline. From control rooms to the crews on the street, meet the people making sure every second counts.

Series 6

BBC Two

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Peter Wallis-Tayler

Erica Gornall

Simon Ford

Jo Hughes

Dragonfly Film and Television

Ambulance: Series 6: Episode 8

Episode 8

BBC One - Ambulance, Series 6, Episode 8

It’s Friday night and London Ambulance Service is dealing with reports of two stabbings.

The Friday night shift takes its toll on crews in the capital as they deal with reports of an armed male and two stabbings.

It’s 10pm on Friday night, and Abbie and Ben, along with Kieran and Mick, are amongst the 320 crews on duty in the capital. Reports are coming in of an armed male on the loose, but it’s a call for a reported stabbing seven miles away which takes priority. Incident response officer Andy is dispatched to the scene to take charge. 

Across the river from the first stabbing, another 999 call is in progress concerning a patient who has been stabbed in the throat while on his way home on a bus. On scene, it is clear that there is no time to waste as the injury is dangerously close to major arteries. The crew race to get him to the nearest major trauma centre. 

In control, Celia is one of 22 staff dispatching ambulances across London. A new 999 call is coming into control every 15 seconds, but not all are life-threatening. Crewmates Adam and Orani are dispatched to an elderly man who is seeing things, but on scene he agrees to let them into the secret of lasting into old age. 'Dancing and singing', he confides. 

On Tuesday night, Celia and the team are back on duty for their second night shift of the week. Adam and Orani are dispatched to a long-term heroin user whose concerned mum has called for help. When the crew arrive, the patient is reluctant to be treated. The experience has a profound effect on Adam, reminding him of his grandfather, who struggled with alcohol addiction.

Meanwhile, a call about a patient who has tried to commit suicide takes priority for the team in control. Kieran and Mick are dispatched urgently, but it slowly becomes clear that all is not as it seems - it’s a practical joke that has gone badly wrong. Kieran and Mick must treat the patient without judgement, but further confusion is added when reports of a grenade on scene lead to the dispatch of the firearms police. 

Ambulance: Series 6

BBC One

Documentary series following crews from the London Ambulance Service. Filmed in late 2019.

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