大象传媒

The staff of North West Ambulance Service care for the 1.4 million people of Merseyside during the most deadly phase of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The morning shift begins with a 999 call regarding a patient who has fallen 20 feet from a ladder. Advanced paramedic Naomi is immediately dispatched. Crewmates Jack and Jazz are dispatched to a patient who is struggling to breathe. A week into the new year lockdown, Covid infections are at their peak: one in four calls to the service concern suspected cases of the virus. In control the calls are flooding in, but it isn鈥檛 just cries for help from their own patch that the call handlers of North West Ambulance Service have to deal with. In London, a major incident has been declared, and they need call handlers from other regions to help answer their calls. As the pressure builds in control, over 135 patients are waiting for an ambulance.

Emily and Jo are dispatched to their third Covid job of the day, a patient who is 20 weeks pregnant. On arrival, their concerns are heightened when it is revealed that the patient hasn鈥檛 felt her baby move since she first began to feel ill. Emily and Jo make the decision to immediately transfer the patient to hospital, but the pressure to care for the city of Liverpool is unrelenting, and Emily, Jo and their pregnant patient must join the 56 ambulances waiting to hand over patients at the hospital. The hospital wants to avoid another Covid admission, so a midwife visits the ambulance to investigate further.

Later, Emily and Jo are dispatched to a category one call for a patient who is not breathing. When they arrive to scene, it is obvious that the patient cannot be helped, and he had previously made clear that he didn鈥檛 wish to be resuscitated, so all Emily and Jo can do is comfort his grief-stricken daughter.