BBC1 Ambulance

[ASauvingnonADay]

Just watching now.

Tears at them being able to get Terry going.

I have taken calls that will stay with me forever and I've never met them and I don't know their faces

This.

There are names that stick in my head. I have never and will never meet these people, despite having sometimes been involved in the most intense moments of their lives - for some people, the absolute worst day of their lives - and yet I will never forget them.

I hope Theresa May was watching: I was thinking none of those people are paid enough!

The look of fear, and then relief on the dad of the baby when he was born made me want to blub!

12yo DD was watching and now really wants to be a paramedic...

My little brother (not so little!) is currently training to be a paramedic. He wasn't ever the most academic so wasn't able to get on the degree courses, so had to wait to train "on the job" (they come up few and far between it seems, or at least they did, not sure if that is changing now). I am so proud of him, and the job he is training to do, and so thankful there are people willing to go out and do one of the least appreciated jobs, u less you are in need of them at least. They need better pay and more respect, both from Government and the general public - I am talking about the time wasters and people who kick off against them through drink/drugs etc.

I'm training as an allied health professional and the paramedics we sometimes train with are absolutely outstanding. The amount they know and their calm under pressure has taught me more than I could've read in a book. So adaptable to so many situations.

Anyone watching tonight's episode?

Yes I watched it. There is a definite need for some sort of service which is not quite the paramedics but more than a family member. They could have helped with the old man who needed his warfarin and the alcoholic. No need for full on paramedics in either of those cases as far as I could tell.

I watched it.

Felt sorry for the alcoholic, and the lack of readily available support for the paramedics in dealing with him.

The chap who had taken overdoses in the previous days and was having breathing difficulties was a tough one - was good to see the update that he'd finally been able to access some support.

The drink-driver was a total muppet and his dad wasn't much better. Hope the stab victim was ok in the end.

The elderly chap who didn't have enough warfarin was a really sad one to see - poor chap was alone and seemed to have dropped out of the system some how.

Yet again I am in awe of the paramedic teams and the control room staff - the abuse they get, and the challenges they face are huge. I have a huge amount of respect for them.

First time watching was good. Ageee about needing someone else like district nurse if no active carer to check on meds. Makes you wonder why they couldn't have injected the last guy to make him pass out long enough to get to hospital. What would they do if next person having heart attack and no more ambulance to send?

I thought that IneedA. So much of what they do, doesn't need a highly specialist paramedic - can't help thinking they could benefit from another 'tier' of staff to support them, so the paramedics can be directed to the more specialist jobs.

Akire, unfortunately I would have thought that would have been seen as unethical.

Did they not try to get a specialist paramedic who has a police officer in their car? But they had just arrived at another job?

Makes you wonder why they couldn't have injected the last guy to make him pass out long enough to get to hospital.

if only we could do that!

Anyone watching tonight? That woman giving birth on the side of the road!!

I'm watching. Yes that was a bit of a nail biter.... my Mum's family live in Stoke, and the gent in the shed reminds me so much of my Grandad, and several uncles too.

Thelady having a heart attack: when the paramedic was talking to gerhusband saying "you've been married a long time, and there'll have been lots of challenges you'lk have had to facr. This is another one, and it's heading in the right direction "and the husband's chin wobbled as he started crying

The 71 year old paramedic is wonderful. The way he spoke to that man who had just died, preparing him for his family

I hope people who are abusive to call handlers get prosecuted.

I feel so much for the call takers. I work in a call centre if people keep swearing at me I can pass to a manager or terminate the call. You obviously can't do that if you are supposed to be helping them save their wife's life!!! It must be hell.

I work in a contact centre, an advice service not emergency. We aren't allowed to pass aggressive callers on to managers, but we can end calls as long as we warn person we will do so if they continue.

But you can't do that when you are trying to help someone save a life.

Omg Reece is making me so cross!

Love these shows, they are not paid enough at all.

That was a sad one :( really felt for the elder paramedic when he learned about the lady who'd passed away, and the younger chap too. It's easy to forget that these angels in green uniforms may well have their own troubles and heartaches to deal with, yet they put them to one side to selflessly support and help people in need (though my patience wears thin with those who are getting legless with no consideration for the potential consequences).

Good to see the baby born at the roadside was ok along with his mum! :)

DH is crying, what a fab program this is.

The 71 year old was a ambulance technician not a paramedic.

Ah ok. Had he been a paramedic before he retired do you think?

Brilliant episode tonight.

You're right that we can't end the call when the caller is being abusive, and rightly so. On "proper" emergency calls it's easy to just switch off and I never feel any animosity towards someone who's been swearing at me during something like an arrest or a situation where they're genuinely terrified. People react to fear in so many different ways and often you'll have someone who is hysterical and seems abusive at the beginning of a call, thanking you profusely and apologising by the end of it. Even when they aren't, I write it off as fear and stress and move on.

It's harder when they're being abusive for the sake of it, but you just stay on and help them as best you can. Everyone calls for a reason, even if that reason isn't immediately apparent. It's not our place to assume or judge; just to do what we can to help them. We can take time out afterwards to build ourselves back up; our colleagues are more like family and understand what we're going through, we have an amazing support network in my trust. You never come off an abusive call and feel like you have to just suck it up and move on - there's always someone who'll listen.

It's an incredible job and I feel so lucky :)