‘Keeping a dying man alive gives a huge sense of job satisfaction’

A Scottish ambulance paramedic working on the frontline describes the poverty she sees when she attends some families’ medical emergencies. Anne, not her real name, has worked for well over a decade in the NHS, attending some emergencies that distress even experienced paramedics.

She said: “It’s 9pm and we are called to an adult in their 30s with breathing problems. As we arrive the house is in darkness, except for one lit room, the children’s bedroom. “The house feels as cold as the outside temperature of 2°C and, in homes like this, often parents don’t eat so that their children can be fed. “In the living room their mum in her 30s is struggling to breathe and we work to assess and treat her. There’s little in the fridge and the cupboards are almost empty and you find that parents go without meals to feed their children. “There’s certainly not enough in this home to give the children a decent breakfast in the morning. “Many paramedics carry small toys in their pockets, the sort that you can pick up in discount shops for a couple of pounds, as treats for the children. When you hand them out, it’s like giving them a big present.

“The mum needs to be transferred to A&E and we leave the children with their dad. “Some young university student paramedics on placements are shaken and say they couldn’t face working in the NHS.

“You can almost see the light die in their eyes. When patients ask if I like being a paramedic, I tell them I love my job. “Delivering babies, getting children who have stopped breathing to restart and keeping a dying man alive gives huge job satisfaction. “But when we roll out of the station to an emergency call, I wonder what we are going to attend. “As for queueing outside hospitals, the worst I have seen is 17 backed up this winter, and some patients have had to be revived in the back of an ambulance. “You take the patient’s observations every 15 minutes there. Sometimes we have patients who have not been able to see a GP.

“Many elderly cannot navigate GP websites and not every family has broadband, often the elderly or poor.” Fully 1.7 million households have no mobile or broadband internet at home, says a recent House of Lords report.

“Up to a million people have cut back or cancelled internet packages in the past year as cost of living challenges bite,” it adds.