Ambulance documentary wins BAFTA
THE fly-on-the-wall documentary series that follows paramedics from West Midlands Ambulance Service has won a television BAFTA.
Ambulance won the prestigious award for Best Factual Series.
The first series followed London Ambulance Service, with the second— screened last year — switching its attention to this region and attracting around four million viewers per episode.
The third series is currently running on BBC One on Thursday nights.
The programme, which was made by Dragonfly TV, and goes behind the scenes of West Midlands Ambulance Service and looks at the staff and patients who we help 24-hours-a-day.
Paramedic Katie Cartwright, who featured in the very first story of the first episode when she helped to save the life of a cardiac arrest patient, collected the award with Rich Phillips, who is a controller in the emergency operations centre at Brierley Hill, and Claire Brown, from the trust’s press office which co-ordinates the filming from a trust perspective.
Kirsty Cunningham, executive producer of Dragonfly Television, said: “We couldn’t have made it without patients and their families, who we satellited into their lives at unknown times, allowing us to tell their stories, but really, this series goes to the heroes in green.
"It was our privilege to be able to capture the way they work with such compassion and care. It’s our love song to the NHS this series.”
Rich added: “I’d like to say a very big thank you to the whole service and Dragonfly. It’s fantastic getting a BAFTA. Wow, we just work in a control room and on ambulances, so thanks very much.”
Katie said: “On behalf of West Midlands Ambulance Service, we’d like to thank Dragonfly for portraying the ambulance service for what it really is. We’ve had an amazing time and can’t believe that we’ve won; we’re so excited.”
Claire said: “The programmes show just how amazing our staff are. Although the programmes can’t show everyone that works for us, whether on an ambulance, in a control room or in the many roles behind the scenes, it has given the public a real insight into what the ambulance service is really like.
"Thank you also to the hundreds of staff who have helped make the programmes possible.”
West Midlands Ambulance Service covers 5,000 square miles across seven counties, including Warwickshire.
It currently receives around 4,000 calls a day and announced before Christmas that it is taking on 270 student paramedics to cope with rising demand.
Anthony Marsh, chief executive of West Midlands Ambulance Service, said: “This is a fantastic achievement not just for those who have featured in the programmes but for all of our staff. What this programme shows is just how much effort our staff put into the job, wherever they work in the organisation."
