A trainee paramedic says she has to shower at the gym and charge her phone at university due to the rising cost of living.
Ashely McLeod, 26, spends around 2,000 hours per term on unpaid placements and is also juggling part time shifts on the NHS roster, placement hours and volunteers with emergency first aiders Street Assist. The third year student at Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh lives with three other trainee paramedics and the group have extra costs associated with their course, including travelling to placements and paying for an ambulance driving license.
As reported by Edinburgh Live, Ashley says the group have taken extreme measures to survive - including having their boiler off since July. The student, originally from Dunfermline, said: "It's going to be a really difficult time ahead.
"We have already turned our boiler off because the costs were too high. If we need to wash dishes we boil a kettle every few days and go to the gym to use the showers and wash.
"On top of my degree and placement, I volunteer on weekends and pick up shifts on the NHS bank administering Covid vaccines but it's not consistent and you are competing with everyone across the Lothians to get these shifts."
Ashley takes on volunteer shifts at Street Assist, an Edinburgh charity that takes the pressure of the police and ambulance service by offering medical support to people that find themselves in vulnerable situations across the city centre on weekends.
"I try to do shifts when I can, but can be hard at times with placement and bank work," she said.
"Last year paramedic students have started getting a bursary like student nurses do but since then everything has risen in price so it barely covers rent and living costs."
In these extreme times the students have had to strip back to basics and take all living costs into account.
Ashley said: "We've started thinking about everything that adds up. We pay £25 for a gym memberships so we can shower there and have even started charging our phones while we are in university to save money.
"I'm 26 and am lucky to have always had a job and income coming in but this year is the first time I have really had to worry about money especially with the gas prices rising in October.
"My advice to other students struggling is to look at all avenues there is a lot of help available from universities in terms of grants you can apply for."
The rising rent costs in the capital are also having a huge impact on students with many struggling to find somewhere to live despite classes already starting.
She explained: "We have had our boiler off since we moved into our new flat in July. I live with three of my friends on the same course, the flat we live in is already above our budget.
"It was impossible to find something in the budget we set and I spent a month sofa-surfing at a friends while trying to find somewhere to live.
"We were lucky to eventually find a three-bedroom flat in Meadowbank but even that is above our budget we pay around £1770 a month not including bills. Last year I was only paying £500 a month.
"The university year has started and a friend of mine still doesn’t have anywhere to live. When I'm off work I have to do food shops and still think about money so you don't really get a break its really stressful."
The need for paramedic workers is huge right now across the country. Ambulance calls have risen by 10 times more than the number of ambulance workers, according to a new analysis of NHS data.
The analysis, carried out by the GMB union, found that there were 7.9m calls in 2010-11. By 2021-22, however, the number had risen to 14m, an increase of 77%.
Over the same period, the number of ambulance workers has risen by just 7%, heaping more pressure on staff. For many it is a dream career but the costs to become a paramedic can be extremely expensive Ashley explains.
She said: "Even our placements cost a lot because they could be anywhere in Scotland and you have to sort out accommodation and travel.
"Last year I did it in Melrose in the Scottish Borders because it was so far and due to the nature of the shifts I had to temporarily move there and was paying for another flat while I did my placement.
"We start placement in four weeks and I still don't know where I will be working. Another added cost is getting our license to drive an ambulance which costs around £1000.
"You don't need to have the van license to graduate but you need it to work, and between lessons, getting your provisional license and the test it costs about £1000. I have my test in a few weeks and have used the money from a grant I applied for towards it.
"But I know a lot of my course mates are really stressed about where they will find this money and they need the license to work."
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