What it is like on a 10-hour shift as a paramedic during the summer

The challenges the NHS faces in winter are well known, but sustained hot weather has seen health services face increasing pressure over the summer months.

South Western Ambulance Service Trust (Swast) typically responds to about 3,200 incidents a day at this time of year, but on one day in June - its busiest day ever - it responded to 4,350 incidents.

It received more than 5,200 calls to its 999 control room that day, when temperatures reached a then-record-breaking June high of 36.7C.

Common conditions associated with prolonged periods of hot weather include falls, breathing difficulties, unconsciousness and fainting.

So, what is it like to be on the frontline? BBC Points West reporter Liz Beacon spent a shift with two paramedics in Somerset to find out.

During a 10-hour shift on 18 August, paramedics Sophie and Lee responded to four incidents.

One was a false alarm, another saw them waiting until their patient had finished their lunch before heading to hospital, and one involved taking a man with severe stomach pains to hospital. He had not seen his GP and feared he had cancer.

They also assessed a woman experiencing heart palpitations, but could find nothing wrong with her. They were the second crew called out to this patient in 12 hours.

Both Lee and Sophie said they really enjoyed the job, but said it could be frustrating and tiring when they attend calls that turn out to not be emergencies.

At one point, the pair were on their way to Minehead Community Hospital to assess an 89-year-old woman who was experiencing heavy, laboured breathing.

But before they got there, they were diverted to a care home resident who had hurt her knee in a fall.

After arriving, paramedics had to wait for the woman to finish her lunch before taking her to Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton. The care home said it called 999 because the woman could not stand up and her knee was swelling.

Once an ambulance crew is assigned to a job, it has to see it through - even if more urgent calls are being made.

"The radio was going off and there were several general broadcasts for category one emergencies in the area," said Lee.

Examples of category one emergencies include a cardiac arrest, someone who has stopped breathing, or a person who has suffered catastrophic trauma or bleeding.

"We have to switch off to the noise in the background and deal with what we're doing at the time," Lee said.

"It can get frustrating if you start to overthink it when you're on duty."

Another of the day's calls involved a man in Minehead who had activated his personal alarm and was no longer responding.

The team drove to him with their blue lights on, only to discover the alarm had been activated in a test and the man did not need help.

"He could have really needed help," said Lee. "We never quite know.

"So unfortunately, we have to respond the same way."

Adrian South, paramedic and deputy director of clinical care at Swast, said there was "no such thing as an inappropriate call".

"If the patient ends up getting the wrong response, that's an inappropriate response to that call," he added.

South said attending four calls in a 10-hour period was typical for most paramedics, depending on the area they are in.

He added while the incidents the BBC witnessed may not appear like obvious emergencies to some, they highlight a recent shift in the role of emergency care.

"The number of life-threatening emergencies has reduced due to public health campaigns and the work of GPs," South said.

"So now our role is more all-encompassing around the whole end of the urgent health spectrum."

Swast covers the largest geographic area of any ambulance service in England, serving more than five million people.

Between 1 April and 23 August, it responded to 466,165 incidents - an increase of 7.8% on the same period in 2025.

It added that 41.7% of patients it treated from April to August this year were taken to an emergency department.

"If you go back 20 years, every single patient went to hospital, whereas now half of patients don't," South said.

"All of those factors come together in reducing the number of what people would typically think of as a life-and-death emergency situation."

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