The Night Shift

The second episode joins staff in the nerve centre of the operation during the night shift. Among the thousands of desperate calls for help they receive, they also have to contend with hoaxers, frequent callers and run-away patients.

It's a busy shift with, at one point, 125 patients waiting for assistance, meaning that the ambulance allocators have to prioritise the sickest patients first, even if that means bumping others down the queue.

One of those waiting is an elderly 'faller' who's been on the floor for three hours. An ambulance crew are on their way to him when, at the last moment, they are diverted to what seems to be a more pressing emergency. A woman says she is having a miscarriage and so he's left to wait even longer. But when they reach her, they discover all is not as first seemed. When she calls again for the same emergency a short while later, they're torn between frustration and compassion for someone who's clearly troubled.

Meanwhile, another crew assist a 94 year-old who has fallen, and who entertains them with surprisingly candid talk of her love life. Her condition deteriorates as they treat her and the decision is made to take her into hospital. The crew are all too aware that this may be the last time she leaves home.

Across the city, a call handler spends an hour and a half on the phone to a suicidal patient who is running away from those trying to come to his aid, in one of the most logistically challenging cities in the world. But whilst one patient is resistant to help, another is all too desperate for an ambulance. A dementia-sufferer has called more than 15 times wanting an ambulance, and even after visits by paramedics and a district nurse who agreed she didn't need their medical assistance, she continues to call. If they keep sending ambulances to her, there'll be fewer for other patients in the area, so the service faces a difficult decision to say no to her pleas for help.