THE LENGTHS West Midlands Ambulance Service (WMAS) went to deal with the pandemic will be highlighted in a TV documentary starting tonight.
Paramedics: Britain’s Lifesavers, on Channel 4 over the next three weeks, shows the challenge faced by WMAS.
Cameras captured the daily decisions being made to ensure ambulances could continue to provide urgent medical care to the West Midlands.
During the height of the pandemic calls to the 999 and 111 service run by WMAS increased by 400 per cent. To ease the pressure, students and volunteers stepped up to join those on the frontline and give something back to the NHS.
The series look at many different areas of WMAS and tell the stories of some of the staff as they deal with the enormity of the situation faced.
New call assessors, student paramedics, to staff returning to work after the call for additional staff, the command teams, education and training – all feature in the series.
WMAS chief executive Anthony Marsh said: “Allowing Channel 4 access to WMAS enables us to show the extraordinary lengths that staff in every part of our organisation went to, to meet the challenge of coronavirus head on. I am immensely proud of the work my staff did and continue to do, every single day.
“The series shows first-hand how amazing they all are and the efforts they went to keep patients safe and save lives despite some of the most difficult conditions we have ever faced.
“I am immensely proud of the way every single person within the trust played a vital role in our response and how those efforts saved lives every single day.”
Series editor Pete Wallis-Tayle thanked WMAS for allowing them access.
He added: “This series gives those at home the chance to understand more about the excellent work that went on behind the scenes to respond to the global pandemic.”
Fozia Khan, commissioning editor at Channel 4, added: “We are very grateful to WMAS for giving us this privileged access to document their incredible work and show our viewers the reality of their jobs at this most challenging of times.”
The series can be seen at 9pm on Mondays and will also be available on catch-up.
