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Life Support: Paramedics

Life Support

Paramedics

BBC Radio 4 - Life Support, Paramedics

Two ambulance paramedics compare what the service was like in the past to how it is now.

Two ambulance paramedics, one recently retired and the other still working, meet for the first time to discuss how busy the service was in the past, compared to how it is now.

Five episodes where two people at different stages of their careers, meet for the first time to share and contrast their experiences of working in the health service. Revealing and surprising insights emerge as the participants compare the pressures of the past with those we hear so much about today.  In this episode we hear from two ambulance paramedics.  Chris, who recently retired, started in the service in the 1980s, when defibrillators weren’t even standard issue on board an ambulance. In the past he remembers getting to take a break between emergencies and crew members being able to take a quick nap on a night shift. There's little chance of that for Harrison who qualified much more recently. He says when he’s working now, he’s always on the go. He worries about the number of times he's despatched to a 999 call that turns out not to be an emergency and about being stuck in long queues of ambulances outside hospitals waiting for beds to free up.  Both agree the role has significantly changed over the years and explain where the service has improved but also got worse.

Produced by Clive Hammond and Nick Holland
Editor: Clare Fordham
Sound: Graham Puddifoot
Production Coordinators Sabine Schereck and Maria Ogundele

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

Documentaries

Factual: Health & Wellbeing

Two health workers swap notes on the realities of working in health and social care today.

Two health workers, one newly qualified and one soon to retire, swap notes on the realities of working in the health and social care sector today compared to the past.

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