Nikki Fox
BBC Look East

Sharon is 40 years old. She's a student paramedic and a qualified emergency medical technician. Before that she worked for a pub management company.  

Being a paramedic is her dream job. She likes the variety of the job and meeting new people. The East of England Ambulance Service really needs people like her, as it has a real shortage of paramedics.

John says his age is "just a number". He's been working as a paramedic for 24 years and did 13 years with the East Anglian Air Ambulance. He now works part-time and says "it's all about the patients". 

"It's about making a difference, not just about the worse case scenarios but those social care cases, the care of the elderly and helping to create care pathways'," he said.

Robby West
BBC Look East

The reason our reporters are out on an ambulance today is because the BBC is looking at the current state of the services around the country.

New figures collected by the BBC show the percentage of calls to the East of England Ambulance Service (EEAS) that took more than 12 minutes to respond to has risen from 14% to 22% since 2013 - the second highest in the country. 

Emergency calls to the ambulance service are broken down into red 1 calls, covering patients who are not breathing and don't have a pulse, and red 2 calls for patients in a serious condition but who are less immediately time critical, such as those who have had a stroke or fit.

Since 2013, EEAS has responded to 208,136 red 1 and red 2 calls that took over 12 minutes to respond to.

In our region, average response times for red 1 calls have increased from six minutes 39 seconds to seven minutes 30 seconds.

Average response times for red 2 calls have increased from seven minutes 12 seconds to nine minutes 17 seconds.

Bury Free Press

Mildenhall Town manager Dean Greygoose believes former darts champion-turned TV pundit Eric Bristow should have his MBE revoked, external for his comments on the footballer abuse revelations. 

Martin Barber
BBC News

These units are integral in helping the ambulance teams with diagnosis. They can also send data directly to the hospital, so by the time the patient arrives the hospital already has a full set of observations.

The units cost about £17,000, and the East of England Ambulance Service has about 400 of them.

They are based in ambulances and rapid response vehicles. 

Philippa Taylor
BBC Local Live

Police investigating the death of a 72-year-old cyclist in Hitcham say he was left unconscious in a ditch after being hit by a vehicle yesterday afternoon.

They're looking for the driver of a white HGV who failed to stop after the collision, which happened on Finborough Road, between Hadleigh and Stowmarket, at about 13:00.

Passing motorists stopped to help him out of the ditch, but he died at the scene.

Insp Dave Giles said: "I would appeal for any other witnesses to come forward who were in the area at the time, who may have caught something on dash-cam, or may have seen a lorry driving afterwards with a bit of damage.

"I'd just like people to come forward if they've got anything they might think could help us with that, and we'll be able to quickly eliminate vehicles that aren't involved."

Martin Barber
BBC News

We're now en route to the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital, external with our first patient of the day.

Our patient has had some pain relief and bloods taken, so they can be sent for analysis on arrival at the hospital to speed up her care.

She's also getting some fluids to make sure she's hydrated.

The ambulance is equipped with a new "multi-monitor". It's a defibrillator which also measures blood pressure and oxygen saturation in the blood, among other things.

Nikki Fox
BBC Look East

I'm out with the East of England Ambulance Service this morning as the BBC spends a day looking at the pressures faced by the ambulance services.

The number of calls received by the service has risen by 30% since 2013.

We're out with the crew Sharon and John. Sharon is a first-year student paramedic who is off to university next year.   

We had an amusing start as we got in the back of the wrong ambulance! 

First call to a 93-year-old lady who has had a fall at a care home in Norwich. She is being taken to the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital. 

The East of England Ambulance service, external covers 7,500 square miles and 17 hospitals. 

The crew we're with are doing a 12-hour shift. It took them just six minutes to get from Longwater to Thorpe Hamlet, in Norwich.

Brenner Woolley
BBC Radio Suffolk sport

AFC Sudbury, external built on Saturday's FA Trophy success at King's Langley by winning 3-2 at Billericay Town in the Ryman Premier Division last night.

Image source, AFC Sudbury

Dylan Williams (pictured), Luke Callander and Sam Clarke were on target as Jamie Godbold's men jumped up to 15th in the table.

Bury Town's, external game at AFC Hornchurch, in the North Division, had to be called off because of a frozen pitch.

Needham Market, external go to Grays Athletic in the Premier Division tonight.

BBC Travel

We're getting reports of a number of collisions in the county:

• Bell Lane in Ipswich, near the junction with Penzance Road
• Foxhall Road, also in Ipswich, near to Dover Road
• Hadleigh Road in East Bergholt, near The Street

Brenner Woolley
BBC Radio Suffolk sport

Leiston's, external FA Trophy tie at Eastbourne Borough, external last night had to be called off after the Suffolk side got stuck in traffic.

A new date has yet to be agreed.

Kate Kinsella
BBC Look East weather

It'll be a similar day to yesterday - dry, bright and sunny with temperatures struggling to reach 2C to 5C (36F to 41F).

Tonight won't be as cold as the past couple of nights, with many places staying above freezing, although there may be one or two spots where the temperature is lower, leading to a little patchy frost.

Watch my full forecast here:

Philippa Taylor
BBC Local Live

Thanks for joining us as we resume our regular updates from across the county.

We'll bring you the latest on the search for a lorry driver who failed to stop after hitting and killing a cyclist in Hitcham yesterday.

And we'll find out why beach hut owners in Felixstowe are up in arms.

To get you in the mood for the latest weather prospects from Kate Kinsella, here's a photo taken in Long Melford by BBC Weather Watcher "Bangalore Babe":

Rock star Brian May lends his support to hunt saboteurs who claim hares are being illegally killed.

Philippa Taylor
BBC Local Live

We're signing off from our live updates, but they'll resume in the morning from 08:00.

If you're just joining us, there's been a lot going on that you can read about if you scroll down, but to give you a taster, here are a couple of our main stories:

• A cyclist has died after being hit by a vehicle which failed to stop, on the Finborough Road at Hitcham this afternoon
• Police are seeking three men who tied up a couple in their Kersey home, punching the man in the face, before fleeing with a sum of cash

On a lighter note, we've been allowed into the county's newest school, which cost £22m and which opened to pupils yesterday.

Take a look - I don't know about you, but it doesn't look a bit like school did in my day.

Have a great evening, and stay warm if you're out and about.

A west Suffolk doctors' surgery has introduced a new "cashpoint-style" 24-hour prescription service.

Woolpit Health Centre has installed the machine, which allows patients to pick up their prescriptions any time of the day or night, without the need to go into the site's pharmacy.

Dr Richard West says patients will order their prescriptions in the normal way: "When it's ready, the machine will send you a text message and you can then come along to the machine, put the code in that you've been sent and pick up your prescription any time, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year."

And if you're wondering how you pay - if you don't get free prescriptions, the machine will ask for payment before it releases the drugs.

Animal rights campaigners have written to Suffolk Police claiming a local hunt is tracking and killing hares.

In a letter to the chief constable, which includes pictures of an alleged incident, Norfolk / Suffolk Hunt Saboteurs says the Easton Harriers, external hunt killed a hare on Saturday.

Image source, Easton Harriers

Master of the hunt Alun Thomas responded, saying: "When they banned hunting, we established we were allowed to meet with hounds, we were allowed to go on the land with the permission of the landowner.

Adding that he had no knowledge of the letter being sent to the police, Mr Thomas added: "I've no knowledge of hounds killing a hare. If they had killed a hare on Saturday, I wasn't present at that incident.

"Police weren't in attendance - they did turn up for two or three minutes when we went home. 

"There was one police officer in a car and I spoke to him briefly."

Assistant Chief Constable Rachel Kearton said: "We do positively investigate any reports from any individual and we do ask communities to provide us with as much information and background intelligence and it will be taken seriously by Suffolk Police."

Alex Dolan
BBC Look East weather

Temperatures are dropping sharply overnight tonight with the risk of freezing fog patches developing and a widespread frost, with lows of -5C (23F).

A frosty start to tomorrow with freezing fog patches slow to clear. Staying cold but bright, with long spells of sunshine and highs of just 5C (41F).

There are more details on the BBC Weather website.

TWTD.co.uk

Manchester City are reported to be targeting, external highly-rated Town academy schoolboy Ben Knight.

Graeme Mac
BBC Radio Suffolk sport

Ipswich Witches took to Facebook last night to unveil their rider line-up for the 2017 Speedway season., external

Fans will be pleased to see British Champion Danny King and Argentine Nico Covatti back return to Suffolk, but it is the signing of Rory Schlein that has most caught the eye.

The 32-year-old boasts a wealth of experience in the sport and has won the Elite League Riders Championship on two occasions.

Schlein should have few problems adapting to life in the new-look Championship division, and tends to go well at Foxhall, having previously enjoyed a spell there in 2008.

A cyclist has died following a fail-to-stop collision in Hitcham this afternoon.

Police say they were called just after 13:00 to reports that a male cyclist had been hit by a vehicle which failed to stop, on Finborough Road.

The road is currently closed to allow an investigation to take place.

The driver of the vehicle is urged to contact police urgently.