Respect plea for paramedics

More needs to be done to recognise the efforts of paramedics and ambulance staff, health bosses have said.

Their standing in the public’s opinion has dropped rapidly over the last 30 years, West Midlands Ambulance Service chief executive officer Anthony Marsh said.

And he called on more to be done to promote their good work, after the service’s trust board heard from a man who had suffered five cardiac arrests and a heart attack before he was saved by four of the service’s paramedics in Worcester.

The man, who was not named, said: “I was in a caravan in the middle of nowhere in Worcester and suffered five cardiac arrests and a heart attack.

“I had felt warm and clammy and decided to have a small port. I am only in my 50s and then it happened.”

The patient, who was speaking at the trust board’s meeting on Wednesday, said he did not remember any more of the incident, but he was saved by the actions of four female paramedics who came to his rescue and then transported him to hospital.

Mr Marsh said: “It is brilliant to hear and more needs to be done to spread the word.

“I have spent more than 30 years working in the ambulance service and here is no doubt that the standing of emergency workers – and I include the police in that as well – has gone down in the public estimation and it is disappointing as to why.

“These four people have done a wonderful job and saved a life and it is what they and their colleagues do daily.”

One of the paramedics added: “It is just our bread and butter, we are so well trained and we all work well together.”

But Sir Graham Meldrum, chair of the board, said: “Your efforts were astonishing and I am glad we have got to hear you speak.

“We appreciate your efforts so much.”