Sex games gone wrong to delivering babies – meet the lifesavers at the North West Ambulance Service

When reporter Emma Downey got invited to the North West Ambulance Service's Emergency Operations Centre headquarters in Preston she jumped at the chance to meet some of the calm and collective faces at the end of the phone in emergency situations.

On arrival to the premises, numerous ambulance vehicles sit perched outside primed and ready to go to save the next life in danger.

Inside, a large room aka the call centre, houses numerous people in different roles with sentences such as ‘do you know CPR’ and ‘keep calm’ resonating throughout. From taking the initial call, to dispatching frontline colleagues and resources, they are there to make sure they get to you in an emergency.

First up I speak to Linda O’Brien, 50, – an Emergency Medical Advisor who is also currently doing her dispatch training.

Linda, having previously worked for a studio catalogue, has only been in the role 19 months but has a passion so great for the job she has even managed to get her son-in-law Cameron to follow suit.

Working quickly and calmly, she handles calls, taking essential details about the patient's condition and location and then logging the information onto a computer system to find the location quickly in order to arrange an ambulance.

‘I have had people call and tell me they have murdered their partner’

She said: “It is something that I have always wanted to do but timing was never right.

"I absolutely love what I do. We are divided into Emergency Centre Operation (EOC) teams – there is the orange team, blue, white and purple team.

"I take CPR calls, have helped talk people down from roofs and I even helped deliver a baby boy called Jacob. On the opposite side of the spectrum though I have had someone pass away and there are times when I have to tell ladies and gents in their 80s and 90s who are on the floor that an ambulance will be a while, that’s hard.

"I have also had people ring and tell me they have murdered their partners.”

How does she zone out from the pressure? “I have a good support network at home. It’s definitely not a job you would do if you weren’t passionate about it."

Has she had any wacky calls? “Not to say too much but on Valentine’s Day we do get a few callers about things getting ‘stuck’.

"A couple were having sex in a van in Manchester under a disused railway viaduct and I had to note for the crew coming to their aid that they were completely naked. You have no idea what call you are going to get.”

Next up I speak to Katherine Hatton, 33, – an Advanced Paramedic who has been in the profession for the past 12 years and deals with enhanced and critical care. A job not for the fainthearted, on the road, she travels alone and deals with stabbings, the aftermath of many traffic collisions and people falling from heights, to name but a few.

She said: “Having been in the job for quite some time I have become a bit immune to what I see and I have my work colleagues to offload to when not travelling alone.

"I actually delivered a baby girl on Monday. I enjoy treating patients and making a difference and I have my family and my children to help me switch off when not working and the gym also helps.”

‘I was told beware of the dogs – they were Chihuahuas’

Any weird stories? “I was called out to a guy who had been stabbed six times by his partner while they were having sex and was warned beware of the dogs, but when I got there the dogs in question were little Chihuahuas.”

Last, but by no means least, I speak to Joe Brookfield, 39, who has worked in Dispatch for the past nine years.

Joe will also have a starring role in the next season of the BBC’s Ambulance at the end of the month – a documentary series that follows the life and death decisions on the frontline.

He said: “My role entails making sure the correct vehicle gets assigned to the correct jobs and which take priority and I also dispatch the helicopters. Sometimes it can take a toll on your mental health but it’s knowing you are making a difference to someone’s life that outweighs this.”

How does he switch off from his stress-filled job? “I unwind with my family, friends and my dog.”