I have seen colleagues in tears at end of a shift

7am We step into the ambulance, ahead of a 12-hour shift, when straight away the radios go off. We pick up a woman who has fallen in a public place.

9:30am We are met with a scene of chaos back at emergency. I note the difficulty we had trying to find a place to park due to the lack of space for the huge herd of ambulances. We endure a three-hour wait before finally handing the patient over to hospital staff. 1:30pm We book our 30-minute, unpaid meal break, then pick up an elderly man struggling to breathe. 3.15pm A nurse says there are no beds available, emergency is full, the admissions wards are full and there are just two intensive care beds for the whole hospital. We wait for four hours before handing over the patient. It is worse than ever. I have seen colleagues in tears at the end of a shift – dedicated members of staff ending up worn out and going off sick through stress.

6.20pm Thankfully we are stood down. Tomorrow we do it all again and I dread the three night shifts after that.