West Midlands Ambulance Service: Hospital waits frustrating, says paramedic

Jack O'Byrne started working as part of the two-man ambulance crew during the pandemic

A student paramedic has spoken about frustrating delays waiting outside hospitals to offload patients as pressure mounts on emergency services.

Jack O'Byrne, who joined West Midlands Ambulance Service (WMAS) in 2020, said he loved his job but the system had been overloaded after the pandemic.

As the service copes with record delays, bosses have announced plans to hire 484 people across the region.

A recruitment day is being held at Shrewsbury Town FC's stadium later.

"Our job can be frustrating at times but it's not the fault of the system," Mr O'Byrne said. "It's just overloaded with the amount of people that are calling."

Since lockdown ended, crews have been seeing a "much bigger influx" of calls, putting pressure on the entire NHS, he said.

Last month, nursing director Mark Docherty said WMAS was dealing with a "catastrophic situation" including long hospital handovers and delayed response times.

Mr Docherty warned the service could face collapse unless ambulance delays outside hospitals were reduced.

'Massive backlog'

Mr O'Byrne said the decision-making and challenge of the role were the things he loved most.

"When you first start out it is a little bit of a shock, because it's very different dealing with an actual patient in front of you rather than a training scenario," he said.

"But you do quickly get used to the things that you are going and dealing with."

West Midlands Ambulance Service director Mark Docherty has warned the service is facing huge challenges unless hospital delays are reduced

Mr O'Byrne said people often thought being a paramedic was "all blue lights and sirens and fast pace and action".

But he said the reality, including helping older people, those with mental health issues and pregnant women, meant there was huge diversity in the job.

"It can be frustrating, especially if you are spending the majority of your shift outside a hospital," Mr O'Byrne said.

"We know there's nothing that we can do about it on the road, it's just something we just have to deal with."

Mr O'Byrne said staff accepted it was not the fault of the hospitals, as they were trying to deal with a "massive backlog" of operations and out-patient appointments.

Although he was still new to his role and enjoying it, he said he felt overall the mood among staff was "good and pretty strong".

A second recruitment day is being held at Himley Hall in Dudley on 26 June between 11:00 and 17:00.