Ambulance crews: All sirens and flashing blue lights?
Ask most people about their impressions of life as a member of an ambulance crew in London, and you'll hear about the excitement of screaming around the city ablaze in blue lights, saving lives day after day. After all, that's what Josh in Casualty does every episode, isn't it?
Speak to any ambulance person actually doing the job, and you'll hear a rather different story. For a start, of the 3,000 calls received every day in London, only 3% are life-threatening. An alarmingly high percentage don't even require immediate medical attention. Rather than calling their GP, or getting themselves to their local surgery, some people use an ambulance as a taxi, convinced they'll been seen faster at their A&E department. Crews are regularly called out to people who are lonely and depressed, and whose only real need is human contact. That said, when the genuine calls do come in they're never routine. In a city with over seven million people of all nationalities and backgrounds, you wouldn't expect them to be.
The London Ambulance Service (LAS) is being stretched from all sides. The number of emergency calls received in London has increased by 50% in the last eight years. Hopefully, this year's awareness campaign (see www.londonambulance.nhs.uk for more information) will educate the population on the correct use of the ambulance service, but only time will tell.The LAS serves an area of approximately 620 square miles, and crews have to negotiate traffic in the busiest and most congested city in the UK. On top of this, it costs nearly £150 every time an ambulance is called out.
The LAS doesn't have an unlimited pot of money nor an unlimited pool of ambulance crews. This year alone, it needs 400 new ambulance technicians to cope with rising demand. The good news is, the LAS has embarked on a four-year improvement programme which, apart from more staff, promises better equipment, more training initiatives and better development opportunities for all employees.
Even with these improvements,the pay and benefits will never be enough to retire early, especially in Greater London. Getting into the service isn't a cert either: the training's tough, lasts a year, and not everyone makes it through. Crews also face the risk of violence and work unsociable shifts, 365 days a year.
Because, in their own words, the rewards far outweigh the negatives. Amongst the routine and inappropriate are the calls where someone is brought back from the brink - often against all the odds. Think about it. How can any other success in the world of work ever compare to actually giving or sustaining life?
It's also one of the few professions that can still claim to provide job security. After all, accidents aren't likely to stop happening anytime soon.
There aren't many jobs out there that command such pride and respect, and rightly so. For the main, it's because most of us know we couldn't do what they do. Quite simply, we're not caring enough, not compassionate enough, not understanding enough. We haven't got the resilience or strength of character. This is a definite calling, where you're driven by helping people in need, and contributing to your community - above and beyond the call of duty. What they do matters. They're some of the few everyday heroes we have left.
As clichéd as it sounds, the crews are like one big family. Most ambulance stations even have a station cat. They support each other through the sad times, and cheer each other in success. There's a form of camaraderie that exists here unlike any other: they've been through it together, and seen things that we can't imagine (and wouldn't want to). Those who pick a career as an ambulance technician are in for a tough ride, but an immensely rewarding one.
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