Paramedics on Scene

Documentary series following the frontline workers of the Scottish Ambulance Service.

In this episode, we are with Rachel and Scott, paramedics in Aberdeen who are flagged down to attend an electric scooter crash that has resulted in a broken ankle. They work out the best way of treating a bariatric patient with breathing difficulties and persuade a man who has been drinking 70 per cent homemade vodka to take a trip to A&E.

The Special Operations Response Team attend a car accident that was caused by a flat tyre. The driver miraculously escapes without injury, despite her vehicle tumbling down a steep bank and landing metres from a live railway track and fast-flowing stream.

Meanwhile, at the ambulance control centre, Kirsty, who is autistic, shows how being neurodivergent and on the frontline can help a patient in distress.

The Special Operations Response Team, or SORT, are busy with two calls to young patients. Michal has severed his finger, but the crew are hopeful it can be repaired with an operation. While at an outdoor inflatable assault course, the challenge is to help a child with a broken arm get from the bouncy surface where she fell, safely into an ambulance without falling over.

We are with paramedics Kim and Scott from Dalkeith as they revive a man who has collapsed on the street after a night out involving ketamine and alcohol, and they help a 92-year-old get ready for hospital.

Meanwhile, an ambulance dispatcher at one of the service's call centres struggles to balance limited resources against a huge increase in calls.

In this episode, two patients experience excruciating pain following accidents the previous day. One is an injured biker who was touring the North Coast 500 with friends, and the other is a 71-year-old woman who had been playing with her grandchildren on a trampoline.

In Dalkeith, a crew attend an emergency involving a woman with symptoms that indicate a possible stroke, sepsis, or even both. These are life-threatening illnesses, and getting her the right treatment is time-critical. Meanwhile ,paramedics from Banff rush 25 miles to the home of a woman who lost consciousness while on the phone for an ambulance.

At the ambulance control centre, we learn what it feels like to help callers deliver life-saving CPR as they wait for paramedics to arrive.

Paramedics in Dalkeith are called to an attack by an out-of-control dog that has bitten its owner. When the paramedics arrive, the animal is blocking the front door and preventing them from getting to the patient, who is clearly in distress and may be losing blood.

In Edinburgh, members of the ambulance service try out e-bikes as a way of getting through the crowds at the Edinburgh Fringe. However, rather than a tourist, it is a local lady who needs their help.

Meanwhile, a determined elderly patient in Kelso needs some help up after a series of falls.

In this episode, a patient in North Lanarkshire has fallen on the rocky shore of Banton Loch and is unable to get up. The Special Operations Response Team must keep the patient warm and safe while they work out the best way of getting him to an ambulance and on to hospital.

In Hawick, an ambulance crew confronts Scotland's drug problem. A patient lies unconscious on the street having overdosed, and it is a struggle to revive him without knowledge of the drugs involved.

Meanwhile, in Kelso, a paramedic offers a hug to a worried husband whose wife of 58 years will need to be taken to hospital.

There is a four-hour wait for a patient with a heart condition in Kirkcaldy, and a SORT team investigates whether a dangerous chemical has been released into a flat.

A crew based in Paisley attend a child who has had her fifth febrile convulsion in two years, and treat a woman experiencing severe chest and back pain whose symptoms could point to a serious heart issue. A man who volunteers in a charity shop collapses at work and it is a mystery as to why he fainted until he tests positive for Covid-19, while a crew drives from Banff to an Aberdeen nightclub after a man experiences such severe abdominal pain that he is struggling to breathe.

In Edinburgh, a man tumbles off his electric scooter causing cuts, bruising and possible head injury. Initially reluctant to go to hospital, he changes his mind when he faints in the back of the ambulance and finds he is dizzy when he tries to stand up. In Glasgow, a woman who has been worried about her racing heart and has taken heroin will not go for a blood test no matter how hard the paramedics work to persuade her.

Dumfries and Galloway has a growing problem with drug addiction that has seen the number of drug-related deaths rising to twice the Scottish national average. We meet two paramedics who are tackling the problem on the front line as they are called to a patient who has overdosed and stopped breathing. However, as they arrive at the scene, he is regaining consciousness and refuses all medical help.

There is also tension in Kilmarnock as paramedics rush to help a distressed mother whose baby may have swallowed a drawing pin. By the time they arrive, the baby is no longer choking, but they need to find out where the pin is, and whether it has done any damage. The same crew help a retired nurse back up from a fall and an elderly man who is at home feeling unwell. The paramedics make sure that the man's long-term needs will get assessed so that he can stay at home safely.

In Edinburgh, the SORT team help with a familiar accident as they help rescue a medical student who has broken her ankle while climbing Arthur's Seat.

In the final episode of the series, paramedics help a patient who has been involved in a road traffic collision. They need to help her away from the scene to hospital so that potential injuries can be fully assessed.

Elsewhere, an Edinburgh crew help a man who spent 12 years in the Royal Navy up from a fall, and a mother with diabetes who cannot stop vomiting.

A Dalkeith crew finds a man with a dislocated hip waiting on the stairs. This patient has improvised his own strap with a belt to try and ease the pain associated with any movement. Sadly, he has been in this position before and knows exactly what to expect.

Back at the ambulance control centre, a call comes through in Russian, and with no help available from the translation service, there is some hurried improvisation to try to get the caller to the nearby hospital.