Ambulance: Code Red

A window on to life-or-death incidents in the fast-paced world of the most specialised emergency first

Medics rush to a 60-year-old woman with suspected multiple injuries, trapped in her car, and to the 36-year-old victim of a knife attack, who has extensive injuries to his neck and face.

There's major trauma when a hay bale lands on a farmer's head in a remote location.

Tewkesbury, 11 pm. A motorist calls 999 after spotting a car stuck in a ditch. A man is trapped inside, slumped against the door and bleeding from his head. It's a time-critical emergency, and Critical Care Paramedics Will Meadows and Kerry Hemus are immediately dispatched, finding Rob, 38, conscious, but unable to move his legs. Fearing he may have suffered a serious spinal injury, Kerry and Mark need to get Rob out of the car as quickly as possible. but any sudden movement now could lead to paralysis.

11.15 AM, Dudley. Eighty-three-year-old Iris suffers a nasty fall at home and is in severe pain. She has a suspected broken thigh bone, and Critical Care Paramedic Stephen Mitchell is immediately dispatched.

A man has sustained a serious leg injury after being crushed by a forklift truck, while a 22-year-old woman is trapped in her car with a badly injured ankle after a collision.

Fay Pollock and Sara Folley arrive on the scene where forty-two-year-old Mark has collapsed in his bathroom. A head on collision between two motorcyclists issues a code red call out for Dr Mark Nash and critical care paramedic Will Meadows. An emergency response team administrates pain management to 56-year-old Della, who is suffering from a broken leg after slipping on her steps.

Paramedics Grant Salsby and Sarah Folley rush to the scene where a man has collapsed at the wheel and crashed his car. Fay Pollock and Dr Stef Cowan treat a 72-year-old who has fallen from a ladder, finding he has an open fracture and no pulse in his foot, while Peter Bowles and Dr Andy Mockridge hurry to a 22-year-old who is suffering a prolonged epileptic seizure.

10.50 AM Staffordshire. 64-year-old David has collapsed at work with a suspected cardiac arrest. Critical Care Paramedics Sarah Folley and Fay Pollock are immediately dispatched.

A 52-year old man complains of neck and shoulder pains after being thrown off his motorbike and a 40-year-old epileptic woman has collapsed with a dangerously low breating rate.

A 60-year-old man is involved in a high speed crash and it seems his chest has taken the full force of the impact; A 70-year-old man suddenly collapses with symptoms of a heart attack.

A 53-year-old joiner has fallen through the first floor of a building onto concrete; a 43-year-old man has cut himself in the abdomen with a chainsaw whilst doing DIY and is in a serious condition.