Susanna Reid was left saying 'sorry' on the latest episode of Good Morning Britain as they heard from viewers about their experience of ambulance waits. The presenter and her co-host Ed Balls were discussing the challenges facing ambulance workers as they gave viewers of the ITV news programme an insight into the day in the life of an ambulance crew on Tuesday (April 18).
They spoke to one paramedic who shared her experiences of working in the emergency services post-Covid while the show's hosts called on viewers to share their encounters with ambulance crews as it was revealed the number of paramedics verbally or physically assaulted has nearly doubled since 2015.
After sharing some tragic stories of ambulance waits, Ed went on to share one viewer's message as he said: "Some positive stories, my son took an overdose, ambulance arrived in six minutes, two ambulances and eight paramedics. I was grateful and lucky my son was okay."
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"This is no criticism, by the way, of the paramedics and ambulance crews," Susanna then wanted to clarify. "They are not sitting around having cups of tea and slices of cake wondering what to do with their day, they are desperately trying to get out to everybody."
Former labour politician turned TV star Ed continued: "If you look at these stories and you think of Jackie and her son, [ambulances] arriving in six minutes, if they had been waiting for hours and hours then that would have been a sad story."
But soon after, a noticeably affected Susanna injected to apologise as she said: "Sorry, as soon as you said, 'My son took an overdose' that's devastating, I'm so glad it worked out."
Later, Susanna and Ed spoke to paramedic and clinical team educator Kimberly about the demands she and other ambulance crew are faced with. She told the hosts how the ambulance service is "so stretched" and that there is "always an increase in demand". She also added how receiving abuse on a daily basis "is the norm now".
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