Ambulance

Cameras follow crews from the North West Ambulance Service as they respond to the impacts of the Covid-19 epidemic and Storm Christoph.

As the second wave of Covid-19 grips the country, the pressure mounts on the NHS in Merseyside. With hospitals almost full, ambulance crews know they must try to keep most of their patients at home.

A crew attend to a woman who has contracted Covid-19 while 20 weeks pregnant. But they must join a queue of 56 ambulances waiting to transfer patients into the local hospital.

Linda and Emma respond to patients in mental health crisis across Liverpool, while an asylum seeker struggling with isolation is a cause of concern for the whole service.

The North West Ambulance Service are struggling with a spike in staff sickness from Covid-19, which is making it hard to meet the demand for 999 responses. A decision is made to ask for military personnel to help, with military recruits put through three days of intensive training before they can join the paramedics working on the frontline. Once training is complete they will be able to respond to lower-category calls, which account for 20 per cent of the service's workload, freeing up ambulances for more critical calls. The service has also drafted in agency staff to work as call handlers.

A quiet start to the night shift is broken by a 999 call on behalf of a 13-year-old patient who is stuck on a bus having dislocated her knee.