The extraordinary lengths that ambulance staff go to, to ensure patients receive the care they need is set to be highlighted again in the new series of the BAFTA nominated programme, 'Ambulance'.

The new eight-part series will be the second series to feature West Midlands Ambulance Service.

The programme will show staff as they deal with the highs and lows of life on the road and in the control rooms, dealing with everything from major trauma and stabbings to acutely unwell babies and a 999 call from someone who wants to commit suicide. In episode one alone, viewers will see a man is brought back to life by paramedics, 26 minutes after a cardiac arrest, a woman who suffered a stillbirth delivering her next baby in the bath, a man who drives his mobility scooter into a lake to kill himself and a patient attacked with a baseball bat in a row over a parking space

With unparalleled access, each episode follows the call-handlers and ambulance dispatchers in the regions two control-rooms along with the ambulance crews out on the ground as they respond to nearly 4,000 emergency calls every single day.  

The programme was filmed in December and January when the NHS was under immense pressure and shows the lengths staff in the ambulance service and hospitals go to ensure patients continued to get high standards of care. During the episodes, you’ll get to see how the staff deal with an increasingly busy service, an ageing population, and the challenges of working with out-of-hours services and GP surgeries as well A&E departments who are also getting increasingly busy. WMAS Chief Executive, Anthony Marsh, said:

“The thing that comes over from these programmes is the incredible professionalism of our staff as they deal with the challenges that they are presented with, never knowing what the next call might bring. I am proud that we have been able to show the diverse nature of our workforce and how we interact with people from every area and community of the West Midlands.

“You will get a chance to experience the second by second decisions our staff face for example helping some who simply wants to end their life through to the desperation of lonely elderly patients who have no-one else to turn to.  You will also see how those decisions affects our staff as they deal with each case.  Sometimes it isn’t easy viewing but throughout, the actions of our staff are exceptional and I am so very proud of them.”

Kirsty Cunningham, Executive Producer at makers Dragonfly Television, added:

“Ambulance goes way beyond the traditional genre of blue flashing lights television and really explores the stories of people in crisis against a backdrop of mounting pressures, from political to societal changes.

“We’re extremely proud of the new series which reflects the compassion, diversity of work, and difficult decisions both ambulance crews and staff in the control rooms have to make every day.”

Ambulance starts tonight at 9pm on BBC1.