大象传媒

A student paramedic has spoken about frustrating delays waiting outside hospitals to offload patients as pressure mounts on emergency services.

Jack O'Byrne, who joined West Midlands Ambulance Service (WMAS) in 2020, said he loved his job but the system had been overloaded after the pandemic.

As the service copes with record delays, bosses have announced plans to hire 484 people across the region.

"Our job can be frustrating at times but it's not the fault of the system," Mr O'Byrne said. "It's just overloaded with the amount of people that are calling."

Since lockdown ended, crews have been seeing a "much bigger influx" of calls, putting pressure on the entire NHS, he said.