Eight hour queues with patients in hospital corridors, an overwhelming list of emergency calls and arriving at jobs to find patients have already died - this is the reality for a paramedic in our crisis-hit National Health Service.
As ambulance staff took to the picket line today for an historic walk-out, one long-serving paramedic laid out the terrifying reality he and his colleagues now face on a daily basis.
Dave Harris, based in Birkenhead, has worked for the North West Ambulance Service for 27 years and has never known anything as bleak and as difficult as what his team now face. He says more and more people will die until the government listens to health workers about the crisis in the system.
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Speaking from a picket line in Old Swan, he said: "This is a massive decision for our members to take but they have absolutely had enough. Standing in hospital queues for hours on end, knowing full well that emergency calls are mounting up and knowing that as soon as they clear after standing in a hospital queue for seven or eight hours, they have then got to go and deal with relatives who are really angry at the fact their relatives have been waiting for so long.
"Its very frustrating and it has a physical effect on you, you are standing there for hours on end, your back and your legs have had enough. Mentally it is hard as well, relatives are quite rightly asking how long it is going to be. We actually have to take the patients we are looking after in a hospital corridor to the toilet and that is not our job, it has just got worse and worse and worse since."
Asked if the huge backlogs and long waits mean that it can sometimes be too late for emergencies they are called to, Dave added: "Unfortunately yes, that's a reality. The Health Secretary has suggested that will happen because we are taking strike action today, well I'm sorry but this has happened yesterday and it will happen tomorrow and every day until this government does something about it"
Today's strikes come after eight out of ten of the country's ambulance services declared critical incidents, meaning they had come under "extreme” and sustained pressure.
Like many NHS workers on the pickets in recent days, these paramedics now feel they are fighting for the very future of the National Health Service - a future they believe has been put in serious doubt because of the actions of the government over the past decade.
Dave added: "We are fighting for what comes next, we are fearful for what comes next with this government in power because we think they are trying to dismantle the NHS. We fear for the future, that's why enough is enough, let's get to the table, let's discuss pay and resources.
"These people are here to serve the people of Merseyside, their own relatives as well - it is a massive decision to strike but we absolutely have had enough. They are not listening to us about resources, they are certainly not listening to us about pay - and to offer us a 4% pay rise after what these crews have been through during the pandemic, I'm sorry but I think it is abhorrent.
Promising that he and his colleagues will take more action until the government sits down to negotiate, the long-serving paramedic added: "It doesn't matter whether we go on strike or not, people will die until this government does something about properly resourcing the NHS to safeguard it for the future."
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