The WORST episodes of Ambulance

#1 - Episode 5

Season 3 - Episode 5 - Aired 5/24/2018

At the start of a night shift, West Midlands Ambulance Service is receiving a High volume of emergency calls and is struggling to cope. A specialist paramedic attends a machete attack but his less urgent jobs are even more time-consuming.

#2 - Episode 3

Season 3 - Episode 3 - Aired 5/10/2018

Specialist trauma team Pete and Matt are called to the victim of a knife attack, carrying out urgent medical intervention at the scene in a bid to save the man's life. Paramedics Christine and Chris start their day shift with a man who has collapsed in Worcester town centre after a suspected drug overdose. A 96-year-old reports that an elbow wound, caused by falling off his mobility scooter earlier in the week, will not stop bleeding, so crewmates Mark and Nieaal drive 20 minutes on blue lights in the dead of night to treat him.

#3 - Episode 4

Season 7 - Episode 4 - Aired 9/2/2021

Linda and Emma respond to patients in mental health crisis across Liverpool, while an asylum seeker struggling with isolation is a cause of concern for the whole service.

#4 - Episode 4

Season 3 - Episode 4 - Aired 5/17/2018

Nina and Lauren respond to a caller whose mother has stopped breathing and is in cardiac arrest. The call handler in the control centre gives CPR advice over the phone while paramedics travel on blue lights to the scene.

#5 - Episode 5

Season 2 - Episode 5 - Aired 9/21/2017

The air ambulance crew is dispatched to a woman who is struggling to breathe after falling downstairs, just as a call comes in for the ambulance to attend a road accident, leaving trauma desk paramedic Fay facing a tough decision. Ben and Sophie answer a call from a terrified mother whose toddler is having a seizure, and reports of a hanging come into the control centre - but with no sign of a patient, the staff must decide whether the call is a hoax. Paramedics Helen and Julie try to find temporary accommodation for a homeless patient.

#6 - Episode 2

Season 7 - Episode 2 - Aired 8/19/2021

As the second wave of Covid-19 grips the country, the pressure mounts on the NHS in Merseyside. With hospitals almost full, ambulance crews know they must try to keep most of their patients at home.

#7 - Episode 3

Season 12 - Episode 3 - Aired 2/21/2024

The ambulance service responds to two separate calls for patients with severe burns, both in need of urgent treatment at the region’s only specialist burns unit.

#8 - Episode 7

Season 2 - Episode 7 - Aired 10/5/2017

Several ambulances are stuck at the busy Worcestershire Royal Hospital waiting to hand over their patients, causing problems in the control room. Sham and Nina answer a call to help a man in his 90s who has fallen over. The only problem is, his wife cannot reach the bolts to unlock the door. A troubled man is rushed to hospital after taking an overdose of his medication, a trainspotter trips over and hurts his head at Bewdley Valley Steam Railway, and two brothers battling addiction strike a personal chord for paramedic Nina.

#9 - Episode 4

Season 12 - Episode 4 - Aired 3/6/2024

Ambulance crews struggle to deal with life threatening emergencies while also being the last resort for those who have no one else to turn to.

#10 - The Day Shift

Season 1 - Episode 1 - Aired 9/27/2016

The first episode reveals the dilemmas faced by the London Ambulance Service as they are forced to bump patients down the queue so they can prioritise the sickest, deal with time-wasters and cope with the ever-present threat that a major incident is just a 999 call away. An ordinary day in London means dozens of car crashes, overdoses, suicide attempts and - statistically - 28 cardiac arrests, where every second can make the difference between life and death. By 11.00am, seven cardiac arrests have already come in, and now there are two more people fighting for their lives. As one crew battles through traffic to try to save a dad of two, across the city, another faces a difficult decision - whether to stop resuscitating their patient, knowing full well the impact it will have on the family. The brain of the service is the control room and, when a number of stabbings, suicide attempts and a double shooting flood the 999 phone lines simultaneously, they threaten to overwhelm the service. And when there is an unexpected spike in 999 calls - far outstripping the number of ambulances available - drastic action has to be taken. Some emergency callers have to be told an ambulance cannot come to them so that the service can prioritise reaching those in most urgent need. Multiple calls about an explosion in a flat come in and herald the control centre's worst fear - now, the whole of the London Ambulance Service has to step up.

#11 - Episode 6

Season 7 - Episode 6 - Aired 9/23/2021

A quiet start to the night shift is broken by a 999 call on behalf of a 13-year-old patient who is stuck on a bus having dislocated her knee.

#12 - Episode 6

Season 12 - Episode 6 - Aired 3/20/2024

While ambulances queue outside hospital with their patients, care is delayed for others ringing 999.

#13 - Episode 4

Season 9 - Episode 4 - Aired 9/1/2022

#14 - Episode 2

Season 4 - Episode 2 - Aired 10/25/2018

A distressed mother calls for help for her 19 year old daughter who is self harming, advanced paramedic Luke is dispatched to a 9 year old boy feared to be a cardiac arrest, and Gina and Jimmy treat a twelve year old who has had an accident at judo.

#15 - Episode 2

Season 3 - Episode 2 - Aired 5/3/2018

New Year's Eve is the busiest shift of the year for West Midlands Ambulance Service. Extra staff is brought in to care for those in need, but the night does not go as planned.

#16 - Episode 2

Season 2 - Episode 2 - Aired 8/31/2017

One hour into the night shift with West Midlands Ambulance Service and the control centre is dealing with its third cardiac arrest, as the MERIT team cares for a patient who has been stabbed and is bleeding heavily. Just four miles away, another crew must stay with an elderly man long after they have treated him, as they've spotted he's run out of vital medication and no one else is available to organise a refill.

#17 - Episode 2

Season 12 - Episode 2 - Aired 2/14/2024

Multiple resources are dispatched to a patient who has fallen 20 feet from a tree and requires urgent treatment for a suspected broken back and open wrist fracture.

#18 - Episode 2

Season 11 - Episode 2 - Aired 9/7/2023

Multiple resources are dispatched to a patient who was fallen 20 feet from a tree and requires urgent treatment for a suspected broken back and open wrist fracture.

#19 - Episode 4

Season 2 - Episode 4 - Aired 9/14/2017

In a busy control room, call assessors Rowena and Sally are both dealing with suicidal patients on the phone while controller Louise and dispatcher Lucy urgently find available ambulances to send to them.

#20 - Episode 4

Season 10 - Episode 4 - Aired 1/4/2023

It's the beginning of the night, and the team in control have inherited the consequences of a busy day shift. Ambulance crews are already starting to queue at hospital as they wait to hand over their patients.

#21 - Episode 4

Season 11 - Episode 4 - Aired 9/14/2023

#22 - Episode 5

Season 12 - Episode 5 - Aired 3/13/2024

It’s Easter bank holiday weekend, and the ambulance service receive a spike in the number of mental health-related calls.

#23 - Episode 5

Season 9 - Episode 5 - Aired 9/29/2022

#24 - Episode 1

Season 2 - Episode 1 - Aired 8/24/2017

Documentary revealing the work of the West Midlands Ambulance Service, beginning with a distraught wife being coached over the phone on how to give CPR to her husband who collapsed suddenly at home, as crews race to save him. Elsewhere, controller Glennis has her hands full as she attempts to juggle between helping a crew search for an elderly man who has fallen in an alley way, and a high priority call for a street brawl taking place, with reports of a man being badly beaten with a baseball bat.

#25 - Episode 6

Season 2 - Episode 6 - Aired 9/28/2017

Crewmates Justin and Dawn's first job of the day starts with a call to a woman whose waters have broken, and former butcher Justin is in his element delivering the baby. Their next case is not so welcome though, as they attend a woman who has called 999 four times already that day and is one of a handful of prolific frequent callers staff across the ambulance service all know well.