Paramedic at West Midlands Ambulance Service says medics are under relentless pressure

The perfect storm of coronavirus and cold winter weather continues to heap huge pressure on the NHS as it faces the most difficult period in its 72 year history.

For the West Midlands Ambulance Service Monday 4th January was its busiest ever day as it received 5,383 calls to 999, 30 per cent higher than the same day in 2020.

While it might be tempting to think that we’re already out of the woods with the arrival of the new coronavirus vaccine, the message from health workers is clear – now is not the time to ease up, we must follow the rules.

This week the Herald spoke to paramedic Liz Scott, clinical team mentor at the West Midlands Ambulance Service hub in Warwick, about what the past few months have been like for her, her colleagues and her family.

Liz, 34, said: “I came back from maternity leave 10 months ago, it was a real baptism of fire, and at the time Covid-19 was a new illness.

“I was quite emotional at the beginning and I was so worried that I might catch the virus and bring it back to my children, I really struggled with it. My husband is also a paramedic, we tend to organise our shifts around one another so we can look after the children, but I know they have found it difficult. It’s been hard for us all, both physically and emotionally.

“All I can say to describe what work is like right now is that it is relentless and there is still a huge variety of jobs, of course some are Covid-related, but people are still having heart attacks, they are still having strokes.

“I’m just very tired at the moment, I’ve got three small children and every time you go into work you know it’s going to be very, very busy. I wouldn’t say morale is the best among everyone right now, probably because it’s so hard for us to see an end in sight at this point and there’s no let up.

“Having said that it’s not like we don’t laugh at work, we all work so well as a team, it’s just it’s so busy and we’re always under more pressure in the winter months too.

“For me the hardest thing about the pandemic is taking patients to hospital and not being able to take relatives along. Imagine taking one half of a couple to hospital knowing they might die and they may never see each other again, it’s incredibly difficult. On the whole there’s been acceptance from people that this is just the way things are at the moment.

“It’s good news that the vaccine is now going out to people, my husband has had it and I’m getting it in the next two weeks, but for me it still feels too early to think that we could be getting to the end of this, it’s hard to see that light at the end of the tunnel. It is so important that people follow the rules at this time, the arrival of the vaccine is not an excuse to let our guard down.

“If there’s one good thing to come out of this it is that I believe that if the NHS can get through this pandemic, it can get through anything.”

A spokesperson for the West Midlands Ambulance Service added: “The trust is facing extremely high demand and on Monday, 4th January, received more than 5,300 calls – the busiest day in the trust’s history.

“We are substantially increasing the number of staff available to respond to patients but it is important that the public play their part too by observing social distancing and the government’s hands, face, space advice.”

Founded in 2006, around 7,000 staff work for the West Midlands Ambulance Service.

England’s third national lockdown began on 5th January following rising numbers of infections across the country, a rise attributed to the spread of a more infectious variant of coronavirus.

Under the rules you should not leave your home unless absolutely necessary for example to go to work or volunteer if you can not reasonably do this from home or to shop for basic necessities.

You cannot leave your home to socialise with anyone you do not live
with or are not in a support bubble with.