Sorry forgot to answer the other half of @Cookiedough123's question. There are lots of progression routes. Most go on and become dispatchers so they send out the ambulances and speak to the crews instead of the public. Others apply to go out on the road. There are also training and quality assurance roles, that's what I do.
@jaded247 it's interesting really, the most stressful situation doesn't relate to a particular call per se. My first ever new years day shift was the closest I've come to quitting. I've never known it so busy, we had no ambulances to send as they were all already on jobs or outside the hospital, I'd taken call after call after call and just before my break I answered the phone, they asked for my name, I gave it and they said "I'm telling every newspaper in the country that (my name) killed my nan". I processed the call and then once they'd cleared the line I went outside and cried. I was adamant that I was going to quit for a while after that 😳 but people say horrible things when they're stressed and they don't see us as people, they just see us as voices. Better for us to be verbal punching bags than for the paramedics to be physical ones.
@Custardcreamies101 yep, a mix of 8, 10 and 12 hour shifts on the rota but 12s are the most common.
@Smallsteps88 probably the hoax calls. Even with ones for very minor things like hurt fingers or "I need my prescription" I have to try and remind myself, it is clearly a big emergency to this person or they wouldn't be calling" (I hope!) so the hoax callers are the most ridiculous. They come up with some really random stuff to call us about.