Original subtitles

PHONE RINGS

Emergency ambulance.

Is the patient breathing?

This programme contains some strong language

and scenes which some viewers may find upsetting

SIREN WAILS

Every day across our capital city...

..more than 6,500 people call 999.

Is this about the shooting in Clapham?

We've got a ten-floor building on fire.

She's just declared a major incident.

It's a police van into a double-decker bus.

Britain's biggest and busiest Ambulance Service must decide

who gets care first...

Stand clear, everyone. Three, two, one, shocking.

..and who must wait.

This gentleman has been waiting for nine hours.

Just delays, delays, delays.

Not looking very good at all.

- Oh! - We've got a crew being assaulted.

With the NHS still on its knees, we go beyond the blue lights...

- Oh, my gosh. - That's a lot of mould.

..to reveal the harsh realities...

..of life in a city of nine million.

Hello? It's the ambulance.

And discover how each call...

..has the potential to change a life for ever.

There's no need to be scared. We're here now.

Taking you to the beating heart...

Love, love, love!

..of our National Health Service.

This is London. This is where it happens.

BEEP

Emergency ambulance.

Is the patient breathing?

Sorry?

Absolutely not, sorry. I'm in work.

- All right? That's a bit inappropriate. - What?

He was, like, "Will you join me tonight for a glass of wine?"

And I was like, "What is happening here?"

BEEP

No, sorry, you can't have my number.

We're not here to discuss my marital status.

BEEP

OK, I can see you've called

a few times today.

Do you actually want an ambulance?

Do you need an ambulance?

OK, I'm going to clear the line.

Emergency call coordinator Jude has been alerted that someone has

rung the service seven times in the last hour.

He's literally bouncing from, as soon as someone hangs up,

- he comes straight back in through someone else. - Yeah.

This is getting frustrating.

BEEP

LINE DISCONNECTS

BEEP

I do have to hang up now to take another emergency call.

LINE DISCONNECTS

BEEP

LINE DISCONNECTS

BEEP

You have been told enough times now.

And you have done nothing but be sexually abusive.

LINE DISCONNECTS

It was always my understanding that when you call 999,

it was because it's kind of a life-or-death situation.

No, sir, that's very inappropriate.

LINE DISCONNECTS

Dealing with someone being foul or abusive,

no-one should have to deal with that in the workplace.

But we can't close the phone lines when things get too much.

Everyone in the control room does this job

because they just want to help.

OK, sir, that's enough.

London is a community. We need to look after the Ambulance Service.

OK, bye-bye.

LINE DISCONNECTS

There is always very sick people who do genuinely need the help.

2137, yeah, go ahead.

BEEP

Emergency ambulance. Is the patient breathing?

Yeah, hello? Is there any serious bleeding?

Yeah? Is there more than one wound?

All stations, all stations. Next call is a stabbing.

You've seen this change to Thornton Heath?

Yeah, we're on our way.

Responding to the most critical calls

are the tactical operations centre.

They dispatch specialist resources to the most seriously ill patients.

This is for a 20-year-old male who's been stabbed in Thornton Heath.

It does say there is a serious bleed.

We've got multiple resources on way, but this is a HEMS activation now.

Our ETA's about three minutes.

Mike 280 are now green.

In Croydon.

SIREN WAILS

Croydon crew Philippa and James

are immediately dispatched to the patient.

Here we go!

Mike 280.

280, thank you.

We've got reports it's a 20-year-old male that's been stabbed,

with a central wound.

No worries, mate. Thank you very much. We are en route.

They will be joined by police, one ambulance,

an advanced paramedic, an incident response officer,

and HEMS, London's only air ambulance,

have also been dispatched.

Philippa and James are five minutes away from the patient.

We've got multiple vehicles coming towards you now, OK?

OK, it's just important to try and control that bleeding if possible.

So all they've got him as is a central stabbing wound,

happened now, serious bleeding.

If someone has time-critical, life-threatening injuries,

we are desperate to get there as quick as possible.

With stabbings, there is that extra edge.

It's that unknown.

HEMS advise not safe to go in.

Lots of shouting, sounds like a large crowd.

In Croydon, stabbings are unfortunately

a regular part of what we do.

It's off Thornton Road.

The road from the roundabout that goes up towards London Road?

If we're first there, we'll roll.

I was a teenager when I moved to secondary school in the area.

It has a lot of social issues.

Right here.

But it's home, and this is where I want to be.

Lots of people here.

Yeah, mate, thank you.

That is received and understood, much appreciated, thank you.

He's got multiple lacerations to his head.

They're taking him to the vehicle

and they'll make their way to St George's.

IR61 from base, IR61.

Six miles away in the suburb of Wimbledon, paramedic Lydia

and emergency medical technician Astrid have just finished

with the third patient of their shift.

Aw, look at that old man carrying his shopping.

I know. I almost want to be like,

"Do you want to hop in and we'll give you a lift?

"I'll give you a lift up the hill."

BEEP

Emergency ambulance.

Is the patient breathing?

OK, and is she bleeding?

OK.

OK, so the neighbour's going into the property?

Is she responding normally?

OK. Is she bleeding?

OK.

Sounds painful. A 75-year-old with an exposed bone.

Seven hours into their shift,

Lucy and Steph are managing 46 crews across the south-west of London.

Romeo 381.

Romeo 381, thank you. I've just started you on this call.

It is for a 75-year-old with a broken leg with the bone exposed.

Query fall.

No worries. That is all received. We are on our way now. Thank you.

Wimbledon crew Astrid and Lydia are dispatched to the patient,

but they are a 16-minute drive away.

Poor darling. She must be in so much pain.

- Romeo 381. - Romeo 381, thank you. Just an update for you.

The APP has been dispatched as well. They're about 20 minutes away.

They might be able to give ketamine or a stronger drug

to help ease that pain.

Lovely. That is all received, thank you very much.

- Pain relief-wise... - That's the thing. - What can we give her?

We can just try and get a cannula in.

But I think she's going to be in, like, ten out of ten pain

- if it's an open fracture. - Yeah.

- Hello. - Hi, sweet.

GROANING

We will, darling, we will.

What happened, sweetheart?

We're going to look after you, OK?

This is some gas and air, all right?

So if you pop that in your mouth, take some nice,

deep breaths in and out.

And this will help with the pain. You can have as much as you want.

Oh, bless you. Don't worry.

So, other than your leg, is there pain anywhere else?

Yeah, bless you.

Let me get a photo of it before we dress it just so that they can see.

I'm going to pop a needle in your arm to get you some pain relief, OK?

Did you feel dizzy before you fell, or did you trip over something?

I just slipped in these silly sandals.

Oh, dear. Whereabouts did you slip?

About five or six steps up.

Oh, so you fell down the stairs?

- Yeah. The doorbell rang. - She was coming down the stairs

- to answer the door. - I was rushing down.

- Oh, OK. - Who was knocking on the door?

It was some people trying to sell something.

- Oh, gosh! - Nightmare.

This is what we give to pregnant women that are in labour.

- Laughing gas, essentially. - Oh, right.

We don't think you're having a baby!

No!

THEY LAUGH

- That'd be a miracle, wouldn't it? - THEY LAUGH

Right, nice and still for me, OK?

- Well done. - Oh... - Is there anything on that arm

that I could possibly use? If we move that.

He is.

- I know. - You're all right, darling. We're here. - You're OK.

You're not alone now. We're all here.

Going to have a look...

Which arm's your best arm?

Oh, dear.

- THEY LAUGH - That's the one. - Absolute crap.

Hey! This is Mark and this is Stuart. They've come to help you.

- Enid... - Oh, Mark and Stuart, please help me!

So we're going to pop a drip in your hand

- and give you some really good painkillers. - Oh, good, thank you.

And then we'll sort this ankle out

- and we can plaster it and get it straight. - Can you?

- Yes. - They're very good.

- Doing really well. - Oh, you're wonderful!

You're wonderful, you are.

You've been so lovely to us and you're in so much pain.

- OK. So we've got access. - Yeah.

- You all right? - What I'll do is get you to put counter traction

on the knee in a second.

- Ow! - You're all right.

Enid's ankle must be stabilised before she can be moved.

You're all right.

- You're all right. It's OK. - Ow!

You're all right. You're all right, lovely. You're OK.

You're OK. You're all right.

OK. You're all right.

- Doing really well, sweet. - Doing really well.

You're all right.

All right.

John's still here as well, OK?

The next job is scooping and measured up, if that's OK?

- Then we're going roll. - Ready?

Brace. Roll.

- Ow! - You're all right, darling.

You're all right.

There we go.

- Right. Everyone happy? - Yeah.

Ready? Brace. Lift. Arms on your tummy.

Yeah, let's go.

- Yep. Green. All good. - Good on my side.

Oh, bless her heart.

So are you going up to St George's?

- So Liz is going to go with her. - Yeah.

- And then I'll follow in my car. - All right.

- And then we can come back together. - All right. - Yeah.

You all right stepping up, sweet?

I'm going to hop in the front, all right?

- Blue into George's, yeah? - Yes, please.

Enid will be taken to St George's Hospital six miles away.

My mother always said...

..old age doesn't come alone.

How's the pain?

- What pain? - That's a good answer!

That is what we want.

ENID LAUGHS

Out of ten, how much pain is it?

- Out of ten now? - Now.

- Half. - Half. And when you first did it?

- 12. - Excellent answers.

I'm sorry about the toenails. They're a bit of a mess.

Yeah, next time you have a fall, paint them for us!

- Yeah, OK! - Yeah? - Yeah.

THEY LAUGH

- We're just pulling in now. - OK, thank you.

Happy?

Just sliding you out, sweet.

Well, it's been lovely to meet you as well, Enid.

And if you want to chat next time, just invite me for a cup of tea.

Romeo 381.

- Romeo 381, go ahead. - It was a really nasty injury.

Bless her neighbour, John, who was looking after her.

She's lived there for 30 years

and obviously she's well known in the neighbourhood,

- sort of everyone was coming together to make sure she was OK. - Yeah.

She seems to have a really good community behind her.

She's really fortunate, actually, to have lovely neighbours

like John that are her first point of call when she needed help.

I'm really glad that she's got that sort of support network.

Thank you for that update. If you want to go green for me.

No worries. Thank you very much.

Papa 280, thank you. You've been auto-directed onto this cat one.

Steph and Lucy have no crews available

to cover the 184 square miles of south-west London.

It's busy!

I've got rid of my oldest call, which was six hours.

Lovely.

Do you know, when I actually first started here,

Croydon used to scare me.

I think now I've done a few ob shifts out of Croydon

and I know a few of the people, I actually...

Do you know what, Croydon...

..through and through, they're as good as gold.

Call handlers are answering nearly 200 calls an hour.

Croydon has woken up. Yeah, for sure.

Hello. This is the second time someone has hung up,

and I can't send an ambulance without asking these questions.

I understand he's in pain.

I... No.

Oh!

Just so you are aware,

we have got some significant delays across all areas of London.

I know. I know it's really painful.

We will try to get to you as soon as we can.

Right, I need you to get the patient flat on her back on the floor.

We need to help this patient now.

Emergency Ambulance. Is the patient breathing?

OK. A car has hit a pedestrian?

OK, thank you.

Mike 280, we've got an RTC, car versus pedestrian.

Patient has taken himself home.

Police are just going now to the location.

- We will check it out. Thank you very much, Lucy. - Thank you.

Philippa and James are seven minutes away from the patient.

Been hit by a car at the tram stop on Fieldway.

Near Addington?

Yes. That's quite a fast road, isn't it?

Yeah, it is quite fast.

- Hello. - Here we go.

OK, give us a rundown of what happened.

- I went running. - You went running?

- Yeah. I was in the British Army, so I go training. - OK.

- The car came across the road on the opposite side of the road. - OK. Yep.

- And knocked me down at the bus stop. - OK.

The car itself was coming up to stationary traffic

- so he may have been... - Had on the brakes already?

- Yeah. - Perfect. OK.

- Right, Jermaine, take a breath. - I'm shaking.

- You're shaking, yeah. - It's the shock of it, innit, mate?

- It's on the come-down, I think. - When your adrenaline stops,

you shake. It's really normal, all right?

- OK. Where's the pain? Round there? - Yeah, just there.

- Any pain round this bit? - No.

Round here? And the other side?

Fine. And can you kind of bend? Point your toes down.

- Is that really painful? - Yeah.

Bend it up.

Fine. And you can feel me touching here?

- Yeah. - Yeah? Feel me touching here?

Right. And how is this knee?

- This one is hurting a little bit. - Hurting as well.

- Do you think that's maybe what hit the windscreen? - Yeah.

Right, just one sharp scratch on your finger, mate.

Just give me this hand for a second.

And where's the worst pain, in your knee or your ankle?

- This one. - In your ankle?

So, so far, everything looks OK.

Obviously you might have a little fracture.

Have you had any pain relief?

I was going to take paracetamols.

Very clever. Yes, let's do that. Some ibuprofen as well.

- Take both of them at the same time. - Your blood pressure's

- a tiny bit high, but that'll be the stress of it. - Yeah.

What regiment were you in, or corps?

- Royal Logistic Corps. - How long have you been out, mate?

- Five years. - How have you found it?

- I miss the Army. - You miss it? - Yeah.

Croydon's funny cos we're sort of on the edge of London.

We're a bit in no-man's-land.

It's almost like you're into your own little part of the world.

- I was based in Germany. - Oh, OK. Where?

- Monchengladbach. - Oh, Monchengladbach. Yeah.

Walk through central London and try and talk to someone,

it's impossible.

Down here, in sort of the suburbs, it feels more warm.

There is a bond down here.

- It's good you still keep yourself fit, mate. - Yeah.

How far did you run?

Um, well... One hour and ten minutes.

- Nice. - Ooft! - Yeah.

That's easy.

- That's ea... - Yeah. - Yeah, maybe for you!

She won't run one mile. She can do it, she just doesn't like it!

I hate running!

I really hate being out of breath. I just hate it.

My advice would be to go down to the urgent care centre

- just to have it X-rayed. - Yeah.

But I think it's just probably a bit bruised, a bit sore.

- Thank you. - OK. You're very welcome.

- Take care, mate. - Take care.

Good luck, all right? Look after yourself.

What a nice guy. You could have been in there for hours, chatting away.

I know, yeah. It's hard, you know.

- A lot of people struggle when they come out of the Army. - Yeah.

Cos, as he said, everything's done for you.

Literally everything's done. Everything's set in stone.

London Ambulance Service wasn't the initial plan for me.

The dream was joining the Army.

I sort of set my eye on it from probably 14,

and then geared my life towards it.

It felt like a job with a bigger purpose.

I went through the selection process,

had to go through a medical after that, and was all set to sign up.

And then I got a phone call. They essentially said,

"Look, because of the hip injury, it's not going to work out."

I did feel a bit lost and I wasn't sure where to turn after that.

Luckily, I found another way to serve.

Being able to help people and do the right thing for them is everything.

Emergency Ambulance. Is the patient breathing?

In control, call handlers are currently receiving

more than 40 calls an hour from south-west London.

OK. Why do you think you're having a heart attack?

Now pull the sheet towards you and slide her off the bed.

Don't worry about the fall. We need to help her now, OK?

You need to pump the chest hard and fast,

twice per second, two inches deep.

Are you able to move her so she...you can take...

..put her on the ground?

It's a cardiac arrest. This is about the fourth one.

Yeah.

Yeah. That help is already on the way.

There's a crew coming to you right now.

I need you to count out loud so I can hear it.

One, two, three, four.

You're doing really well, OK?

There's somebody just arrived outside,

so keep going until they come in.

OK, I'll leave you with them. Bye-bye.

- Are you all right? - She was talking to them five minutes ago.

Emergency, ambulance. Is the patient breathing?

What is the address of the emergency, please?

BEEPING

24. route 19. What?

- OK. - Oh, Battersea.

Romeo 381.

Thank you. I've just sent you a category two call.

It's a 24-year-old male, difficulty breathing.

- It looks like he's the driver of a bus. - No worries.

That is all received. We will head there now.

SIRENS WAIL

Astrid and Lydia

are seven minutes away from the patient.

Are you saying that the bus has pulled over?

Is that what it is?

Oh, that's 19, yeah.

- Yeah, they've got their hazards on as well. - Yeah.

At least everyone's off the bus.

Hello, sweet. I'm Astrid. This is Lydia.

Erikas?

What's happened today?

Mm-hm.

OK. Where in your chest was the pain?

Okey doke. All right, let's get you on the truck.

We'll do some checks of your heart and then we'll go from there, sweet.

All right?

Let's get you onto the bed, sweetheart.

Get comfy. Swing your legs up.

So you work on the buses?

- You're a bus driver? - Oh, yeah.

How long have you been doing that for?

- Almost a year now. - How are you finding it?

DOOR BANGS

Ooh!

I love it, to be fair.

I've wanted this job since I was seven years old.

- Really?! - Aw. - Oh, that's super nice.

I love that.

OK. Have you ever had anything like this before?

Actually, yes. It's been like this for the past three days.

Have you been under quite a lot of stress recently?

- Different times, I mean, everyone stresses here and there. - Yeah, yeah.

Where are you originally from?

Lithuania.

Oh, nice.

Have you got family, kids here?

Uh, my little sister.

How old's your sister?

Uh, she just turned 17 not long ago.

Oh, you are the big responsible one.

- Unfortunately. - Yeah!

ASTRID LAUGHS

My mother, my father, they both passed away.

- Oh, I'm so sorry to hear that. - Oh, sorry to hear that.

That's really difficult.

Especially when you're...

London's such a, like, busy, big city in general,

let alone if you've got to look out for your little sister as well.

- Yeah, that is a lot. - Must be really hard for you. - I do what I can.

I'm just going to do a quick ECG,

just to have a look at your heart and make sure

that there's nothing cardiac going on.

Just keep nice and still for me.

OK. Well, your oxygen levels are really good, OK?

So don't be panicked about that at all.

And all your other checks have been really good.

- All right? - Obviously, with your chest pain,

with anyone with chest pain, we recommend that they come

to hospital just to get blood tests and get checked out.

So if you're happy with that plan, we'll pop off to hospital.

You can be a passenger.

The patient will be taken to Chelsea and Westminster Hospital,

one mile away.

Is your little sister living with you?

- Yeah. - Aw. Do you feel like you're managing OK, sort of in life?

Because obviously, without your parents and you having to sort of

like look after your sister,

even though I know she's old enough to look after herself,

but you've got that big brother role.

I think, mentally, you know, you're always looking out for her.

- I just try to keep it calm. - Yeah. - Calm and collected.

Everything's going well.

- Mm. - Until I end up in an ambulance.

Yeah.

- Right. - We're just here now.

How was the journey?

Don't be too harsh on me because you're a bus driver.

LYDIA LAUGHS

Critique her, please.

- That was very smooth, actually. - Oh, thank you!

I think I'll just leave it at ambulance.

- Yeah. - That's as big as I'm going.

All righty.

Lovely.

For someone only 23 to have chest pain,

it's very rare that that's actually going to be something...

- Cardiac. - ..cardiac.

But it would be good for him to get seen,

hopefully get a bit of peace of mind.

When you're under a lot of stress,

- you don't realise, like, the toll that it has on your body. - Yeah.

Across London, there are currently 96 emergency calls in the queue.

Can you ask him - why is he lying on the floor?

Sorry, I think I spoke to you earlier.

No.

The nuisance caller has now been calling for four hours.

I mean, it's difficult to check

because of the unregistered number,

but this is probably, what, five, six calls now

in the last half an hour or so?

On average, we probably take around about 6,000 to 6,500 calls a day.

This is a very stressful job,

but you want to do everything in your power to make sure

that those people that are in dire need get answered.

This is an emergency line. I am going to clear it now, OK?

Twice in one shift.

When you're having to deal

with someone that's abusing the system, it has an effect.

It really does, it plays on people's minds.

This is my place of work at the end of the day.

I don't come here to get, like, sexually harassed.

They just sent an email for the guy that has been calling up people

and asking them for a date.

"If it is not made clear he requires the ambulance,

"then please do not engage

"in any further conversation with him.

"Clear the line and abandon."

LINE RINGS

So I'm going to clear the line now to take another call.

If that changes, you call...

You're stopping me from answering calls.

Do you need an ambulance or not?

No, sir. We're too busy.

All right, I'm going to end this call now. Thank you. Bye.

- Got him again? - Yep.

At the moment, you are taking up the time

from us answering calls for emergency reasons.

This time, we have a name

and we have a number.

So I wonder, has he slipped up?

The nuisance caller was previously using a withheld number,

but this time his mobile number is showing.

Do you want us to do a trace on that number?

But I'm going to see if we can get an address or something for him

so at least we can have a face-to-face conversation.

Hello there. My name's Jude.

I'm calling from the London Ambulance Service.

I was hoping just to do a subscriber check for a 999

call we've just taken, please.

Amazing. Thank you so much for your help.

Appreciate it. Cheers. Bye-bye. Bye.

I got his name and his date of birth and address.

- Have we sent to his address before? - No.

So, hopefully, we can get something done.

It gets to a point where enough is enough.

I know that some people may ask

as to why we can't just block their number,

but it's that possibility

that the next time that they call that they do need help.

Why do you need an ambulance?

You're having a heart attack?

He's on the phone at the moment, again, to someone else.

We're going to the address that the mobile number is registered to

so we're just sending an officer round to check

the address out and see if there's anyone there.

Perfect.

Are you alone?

OK.

I'm sorry. I'm really sorry, I can't.

You've got to go?

Did you say there's someone knocking at his door?

Did you say that someone was knocking at your door?

Yeah. Did you see who it was?

Can he go and answer the door?

Can you go and answer it?

Why not?

Then I'm going to have to cancel this down, OK?

Just clear the line.

All right, if you still need our help, call us back. Thank you. Bye.

- Thank you. - All right, thank you.

That's ridiculous. That's multiple, multiple calls.

That's just disgusting.

Before working here, I was so unaware about, like,

so many things. Now that I'm working here,

people just suck sometimes.

When you take time to reflect,

you remember that you have helped people throughout the day.

We have made a difference to a lot of people in some of

the worst situations that they could possibly have imagined to be in.

And I think that's important and we have to take that forward,

take that into the next shift.

Let's get this show on the road.

Let's get going.

It's the start of a new 12-hour shift,

and dispatchers Steph and Lucy

will have 29 ambulances to cover south-west London tonight.

Who've you got this evening, then?

St Helier and Wimbledon.

- How's your screen looking? - Mainly cat 2s.

My oldest cat 2s are an hour and 25 minutes old already,

so...not looking good.

Oh, OK. Well, I've got Croydon.

Your screen's way busier than mine already!

13 cat 2s.

Signing back on are Astrid and Lydia.

I feel like I'm in an endless loop.

- What is it called, Groundhog Day? - What's that?

It's like where he lives like the same day, over and over and over

- again. - Is it a movie? - Yeah.

They are one of the eight crews looking

after the people of Wimbledon tonight.

LINE RINGS

Evening, sweet. This is Romeo 381.

Romeo 381, good evening. Perfect, thank you, all booked on.

Have a good shift.

I think we're going to need a lot of coffee, sweet, but I'm sure

we'll manage.

The end of dry January - what could possibly go wrong?

Have a coffee for me. Have a good one. Speak to you later.

Thank you. I didn't do dry January.

Well, someone did, that's the main thing.

Ten miles away, in Croydon,

Philippa and James are also booking on for their night shift.

- Morning! - Morning. You got my coffee? - Yes. - Lovely.

- Thank you. - Very welcome. - Did you sleep all right?

I think I had like three hours.

I was watching Real Housewives of Potomac and then...

- The TV's terrible. - Always entertaining.

Well, I disagree, but anyway.

PHILIPPA SCOFFS

Call handlers are already answering

a new emergency call every 12 seconds.

Emergency, ambulance. Is the patient breathing?

Hello. Is the patient awake?

He's unconscious?

Yeah, tell me exactly what's happened.

All right. And has he had more than one fit in a row?

Nine? Well, we have an ambulance

coming to you as fast as possible, all right?

SIRENS

New incident, category one. Male, age 18.

Convulsions/fitting.

Oh, OK.

999 mode activated.

- Good evening, red base, Mike 280. - Good evening, Mike 280.

We've got reports of an 18-year-old male,

erm, who's had a seizure and fallen and hit his face.

If you need anything further, give me a shout.

Yeah, absolutely.

Philippa and James are three miles away from the patient.

Cancelling all functions.

He's called Juan.

- Put it in your bag in case he goes again. - Yeah.

Might as well take it all.

Hello. Where are we going, in here?

- Is it Juan? - Yeah. - Hello. - Sorry.

I'm Philippa, This is James.

Hello, Juan.

OK. Are you sister?

Mum! Oh, my goodness!

Do you want to tell us what happened?

What happened is that my brother, he was in here

and then he had like an epilepsy crisis.

- And then he fell, like, really loud. - Fine.

And then we just heard the bang.

Now he's, like, a bit sleepy like that.

We don't know if it's like that because of the really loud bang.

Procedure or the fall.

- OK. - He's really fragile. - Yeah, yeah. Of course. That's OK.

And what else is he diagnosed with apart from epilepsy?

Leukaemia, OK.

And what's the plan with his treatment for his leukaemia?

- Erm, he didn't tolerate the chemotherapy. - Yeah.

- OK. OK, fine. - Can you just warn him,

there's going to be a sharp scratch in his finger,

take one little drop of blood. Sorry, Juan.

- Sorry. - Sorry, darling. - Sorry. You're doing really well.

- So that's kind of how he reacts? - Yeah. - Last time, last time. - Yeah.

- All done. - Yeah, lovely.

- OK, now he's waking up. - Now he's waking up, yeah?

- Feel a bit better? - Yeah. - OK.

Juan, let's move this away. Hello, darling. Hello.

So we think he fell on this side, yeah?

Sorry, my darling. Nothing feels broken or anything.

Obviously, I don't know him as well as you do,

but he looks pretty comfortable.

What we'll do is we'll leave him to sleep.

Um, we'll go outside to the ambulance, I'll ring the doctor,

I'll just let them know what's happened

- and then I'll come in and let you know. - Any problems

in the meantime, we're just out there. OK?

He's a nice kid, isn't he? What's his other condition?

- Rett syndrome. - Rett syndrome. - Really unfair. - For a young kid

to have big degenerative conditions.

- And then leukaemia. - And leukaemia on top.

And he can't tolerate the chemotherapy.

All right, let's ring the doctor.

Juan has regular seizures. This evening, he's had a seizure,

he's then fallen onto the floor, onto his right side.

Some jobs really hit home

with how people can have it really rough.

It's not fair on them. It's not right.

You can feel a bit helpless sometimes.

You wish you could do more.

If we could pass a note to his own GP just to have

a follow-up in the week, just to make sure that,

erm, the family are happy and that everything's going all right.

Lovely. Thank you very much. All right.

Have a good... You, too. Bye-bye.

- You ready? - Yes.

OK? Is he all right?

Is he just sleeping?

People invite you into their lives at their worst moments.

That trust that people have in you is a privilege.

So, I've spoken to the doctor. She's very happy.

- OK. - Just keep doing what you're doing.

He's amazing. You look after him so well.

Yeah, he's a happy boy.

But after he got diagnosed with leukaemia,

he started to go down. He's not really...

- Yeah. - Yeah. Are you older or younger?

- I'm 15. - You're the baby. - Yeah. But he's a baby.

- He's a baby too. - I'm the grown-up now. - You're the grown-up now.

Well, it's a pleasure to meet you. And I can't believe you're his mum,

because you just... I need to know what your skincare regime is.

THEY LAUGH

Thank you so much.

OK. All right. See you later, Juan.

- All right, darling. - Thank you. - All right. Take care, guys.

- Look after yourselves, all right. - See you later.

You can tell that the sister is...

- ..when she said, "He's the baby"... - Mm-hm.

- ..she's had to... - Grow up. - Yeah, and be mum's helper.

Unfortunately, we don't always see it, do we,

when a family looks after their loved ones that well?

- But that... - Amazingly well. - Yeah. Fair play.

That is nonstop 24/7, every day of the year.

I know it's distressing for your child,

but keep cooling him down.

I need you to tilt his head back

and put your ear next to his mouth, please.

In the last hour, crews have been dispatched

to 24 incidents across south-west London.

The first intoxicated person of the evening in Croydon.

Yeah. I've got two intoxicated people on the same street,

passed out, literally like, 200 metres away from each other.

Oh, God.

PHONE BLEEPS

Emergency ambulance. Is the patient breathing?

In Control, call handlers are dealing with nearly 300 calls

an hour.

OK, so we're going to start a breathing check now.

Keep cooling the burn.

I need you to calm down now. This isn't delaying...

..this isn't delaying any help for her in any way.

We will get to you as soon as possible.

At the moment, it could take up to one hour and 40 minutes.

It really depends what's available in the area, OK.

All right. Thank you, then. Bye-bye.

Well, I just had a stroke. And he's panicking now,

because he's being told an hour and 40 minutes.

PHONE BLEEPS

Emergency ambulance. Is the patient breathing?

Do you know this person at all?

Help is being arranged.

Due to demand that's currently in place,

there may be a delay in attending.

So it came in at nine o'clock for a cat two.

We should have dispatched one after 18 minutes,

that's our target response. So we've held it for double

what we should have done.

The category two patient is one of 86 across London,

where there are no resources available to treat them.

I'm starting to stack calls already and it's only quarter to ten.

PHONE RINGS

Romeo 381.

'381, thank you. I've checked the cat two.'

Male found unconscious at the side of the road.

We have held it for some time now.

No worries. When we get there, we'll have a look.

- 'OK, Thank you.' - '999 mode activated.'

45 minutes after the emergency call was first received,

Romeo 381, Astrid and Lydia, are finally dispatched.

Still unconscious. Elevated breathing rate.

POLICE SIRENS

11.

I know we're going to see everyone out,

living their best lives on a Friday evening.

Right. It is a Friday night. What is the bet

he has maybe had too much to drink?

- So...outside where, darling? - Um, here.

And...so, turn left here.

Just keep your eyes peeled. Are they...?

Oh, yeah!

Stunning.

We'll just grab our bags, OK.

- Hello. - Hello.

OK. Hello!

- Yeah. - Can you hear me? - It's the Ambulance Service.

- Hello. - Hello! - Hi, hi, hi!

Shall we sit up? Lovely. Well done.

Sweetheart, do you want to come onto the ambulance with us,

and then we'll do some checks?

- Yeah. - Yeah, shall we do that?

- Ready? - Oh, yeah.

- Lovely. - Well done. - Let's walk.

You've had a good Friday night, haven't you?

- Yeah. - Yeah, I think so.

Do you speak Polish?

Polish.

HE SAYS SOMETHING INAUDIBLE

I hope you're saying something nice to me!

SHE LAUGHS

I'm taking it as a compliment!

One step...

- We're going to go now. - Oh, thank you so much, guys. Thank you.

And thanks for staying with him, guys. You take care.

I just need to get to your arm just to do a blood pressure

- and some checks, all right? - Yeah. - Yeah.

What have you been drinking this evening?

I'm over here. Hi!

- Yeah. - Beers? - Beers, yeah.

High-vis and Stanley knife in the back. So I think he's a tradie.

How old are you?

Polish...

'How old are you?' I mean, I would say 40s.

'Ile masz lat?'

HE ANSWERS IN POLISH

Oh! He's going to respond in Polish and I don't know the numbers.

- Oh, God, this is a bad idea. - How old, four? 40?

You try Language Line while I still try this.

Have you just been drinking tonight, sweetheart?

- Hello. - My name is Lydia. - Our patient speaks Polish,

and, um, we just need to ask him a few questions.

- 'Yes.' - Can you please ask him what his date of birth is?

Yeah.

'OK, I'm not sure. I think he confirmed it.

- 'It's 1973.' - 1973.

Are you able to ask him his postcode as well, please?

OK. I don't think he's going to answer. Thank you.

- All of his obs look good. - Yeah. I think our best bet

is just getting him to hospital and getting some...

..getting some fluids in him, getting him sobered up.

- Does that sound like a plan, Batman? - Yah. - Yeah.

Right, pop your arm in there.

- Yeah. - Yah.

Are we the best ambulance crew ever?

That's where you're meant to go, "Yah"!

Lovely. Let's head to Chelsea!

Wakey, wakey!

Can you keep your eyes open for me?

Just making sure you're awake.

He probably just wants a greasy kebab and to go home.

But unfortunately, that's just not how the cookie crumbles.

We're going to take you into hospital now, sweetheart.

- Yeah? - Get you looked at. - It's been a pleasure meeting you.

Yeah. All right.

Let's go in.

To be fair, those people walking past,

they didn't need to stop and wait.

And considering it's a Friday night, and it's night-time,

that was really nice for them to do that, I feel like.

- Yeah. - There are good people out there.

Love, love, love!

SHE LAUGHS

PHONE BLEEPS

- 'Fire Brigade'. - 'Hello, Ambulance.'

Do you know if anyone's still inside the vehicle?

- Uh, Hems? - Yeah. - Have you seen this Cad 552,

reported car on fire, unknown people trapped or injured?

Yeah, I'm on it.

The call in progress is a category two emergency.

Mike, 280.

I've got reports of a car on fire.

Don't have any other details, so I'm going to send it down to you guys.

No worries, mate. Thank you very much. We are en route.

SIRENS SOUND

Also making their way to scene are police, fire and two ambulances.

Philippa and James are ten minutes away.

Good morning. It's the Hems desk, here.

I notice you've come across running call for a car on fire.

So the crew said that, um, there's two vehicles there.

They believe the vehicles are about to explode.

Mike 280 are on their way to it.

It's just come in, literally.

- Well, hopefully there's no-one in the car. No-one trapped. - Yeah.

SIREN WAILS

- There's lights. - That'll be where it is.

I'll just go and chat to the other crew.

A suspected drunk driver is being assessed

by the other ambulance crew.

- You all right? - Yeah, all right. How are you?

So we've come across this haul. There was no-one in that car,

thankfully. So in the meantime, this dear little old lady

is walking along here in her slippers!

- She said she lives in London. - She's got nothing on her,

- and she's not dressed. - I'll have a chat with her.

Darling, sit there for a second.

I'm James, I'm from a different ambulance.

All right, I'll tell you what.

Let's get you down to our ambulance in the warm, and we'll...

..and we'll work it all out. All right?

This is Philippa. This is my crewmate.

- Hello. Morning! - So did you get to see some firefighters in action?

- Yeah! I'm all right! - All right?

Let's get on the back here.

Right, before we go anywhere,

we just need to try and find out where home is.

Where did you see me, at the beginning?

Our colleagues in the other ambulance saw you walking

down this road. This is the Kent Gateway.

Well, just let me go there, and then I'll go home myself.

Darling, we're in the middle of a massive road.

There's trees that side and trees that side.

OK. Who do you live with, darling?

- What do you mean, who do I...? - Do you live on your own?

- Yeah, with family. - With your family? OK. All right.

To me, you sound like you're from south east London.

- Yeah. - Yeah? - Yeah.

Is it kind of Coney Hall way?

- Is that where you live? - No. - No? Orpington? Bromley?

- Bromley, I think. - Bromley? OK, so somewhere in Bromley.

- Something like that. - OK.

And when you left home, was it dark, or was it light?

- It was getting dark. - OK. - Yeah, so... - Yeah.

Now, do you have anything on you,

like, a purse or anything like that?

I did have a bag, but I don't know where the bag is.

Do you have any door keys?

No, I just knock and they let me in.

- Just knock? - OK.

- Got nothing in your pockets, have you? - No.

- Only, erm... - Only a tissue.

Do you have anybody that comes in and helps you at home?

- Or do you do it all yourself? - I do it myself.

- Yeah? - Got the kids and the... - How old are your kids?

- Ten, something like that. - OK. All right.

Right, let's see if we can find you on the system.

And then we can get you home safe and sound.

- What's your date of birth? - October.

- Which year, do you remember? - 1950 or something like that,

- weren't it? - OK, let's have a look. Roughly.

15 results. Nothing matching.

I really want to find you.

Do you want to just ring that care home there?

- Yeah. - Because it's so close.

DIAL TONE

Hello. My name is Philippa.

I'm a paramedic with the London Ambulance Service.

I'm just wondering if, um, any of your residents

have gone missing this evening.

OK. No worries. I'll try... I'll try some other care homes

around the area.

- Bye-bye. - Bye. OK, so no for there.

Don't worry. We'll get to the bottom of it.

Hello. Good morning. I'm trying out the local care homes.

Drop me off where... where you saw me.

- We'll try, darling. - All right, no worries.

All right. Thank you for your help. All right. Bye-bye. Bye.

Nope.

- This is just really... - I've never had that before.

- No NHS number, no... - And also, our assumption is that...

PATIENT GROANS

- Hello? - Something else going on? - Darling, lift your head up.

Like a fit.

- Check it's high flow. - Yeah.

She's come back round now, I think.

- Hello! - Hello. - Hello. How are you feeling, darling?

What are you doing to us?

Why don't you jump on the bed for a minute and then take a seat

- this way. - You're all right, darling, I promise. - OK.

Just spin around this way. I'll help with your legs.

It's all right, darling. Just pop this off for a second.

OK?

I think you might hate me in a minute.

- What? What are you doing? - I need to take one little bit of blood.

You've resigned now, haven't you, to the fact that you're on here.

- Yeah. - I'm all right. It's nice. - It's nice?! - Yeah?

Your blood pressure's a little bit low.

A little bit lower than we'd want.

- I think we should pop you down the hospital. - Why?

For a couple of reasons.

So, A, we can't find out where you live.

B, your blood pressure is a little bit too low.

- OK. - All right? Just try and get some sleep on the way if you want.

- You happy? - Yeah, happy, thank you.

The patient will be taken to Princess Royal Hospital,

five miles away.

It might be a little bit bumpy on the way to the hospital.

All right?

Working in the Ambulance Service,

you realise there are lots of vulnerable people

who need support in the area.

- Just a bit tired. That's all. - Have a little snooze.

When you're in there, we can get you

on a more comfortable bed and you can have a snooze.

I always used to think about serving the country

and doing a worthwhile thing in the Army.

I think it's important that I work in the area that I'm from.

That's us pulling in now.

- Hello! - Oh, we get out?

Don't worry. We'll do it.

You don't know what all the fuss is about, do you?

You just lie still. We'll do it all.

He'll do it all, anyway. Not me!

Get the door? Yeah, I got it.

Right, let's get you in and they'll look after you, OK?

Oh, that was a strange one, wasn't it?

- She's just walking towards the fire? - Walking towards a car on fire.

Completely lost.

And had... Poor thing was so confused.

She was so good on her legs. She could have walked for hours.

She's missing from somewhere. There's no way she lives on her own.

Hopefully they'll find her. They'll find her. Someone will call.

- I hope so. - And then they'll turn up and pick her up.

- 280. Good morning. - Hello, mate.

Yeah, just an update from us.

We are finishing up with our last one.

Thanks very much for looking after us.

Both of you sleep well, and speak to you later.

- Thanks, mate. You too. - Sleep well!

I thought that was a delivery truck. That was actually an ambulance.

To be fair, I just wave at everyone these days!

Anything yellow, "Hello!"

"Hello! Hello, Jackie!"

Good!

I think London is quite anonymous, but down here, the suburbs,

we have a bit of an identity with each other.

People are happy to look out for each other a bit more.

A sense of community keeps these areas together.

And being able to serve that community is everything.

I really love it. And this is where I want to stay.