Code Red Chaos – Saving Lives on the Frontlines of Emergency Medicine

Follow a highly specialized medical team operating around the clock in the West Midlands as they respond to extreme medical emergencies. This dedicated team of paramedics and doctors is equipped with cutting-edge trauma techniques and advanced medical equipment, allowing them to tackle a range of critical situations, from car accidents to stabbings and cardiac arrests. Their mission is clear: to save lives on the spot and provide vital care when every second counts.

Have you experienced paramedics helping you? Share your stories in the comments!

Ambulance: Code red – From Season 1 Episode 8: Critical Care Paramedic Fay is dispatched to the scene of a serious motorbike crash and Ambulance control receive an emergency call reporting a man collapsed in a churchyard.

Following specialised teams of British paramedics on their most extreme calls, Ambulance: Code Red is an adrenaline-pumping ride on the edge of life.

With exclusive access to the highest-priority cases, viewers join these elite first-responders as they race to the scene of an emergency and then use cutting-edge trauma techniques—including roadside surgery—to save patients from almost certain death.

Body cams and mobile film crews provide a 360-degree multi-angle view that captures every critical second. And from car crashes and stabbings, to crushing injuries and cardiac arrests, the trauma team is committed to saving lives, no matter how dire the circumstances.
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In the intense world of medical emergencies there’s nothing more extreme than a code red this is a two-car RTC that’s correct it means there’s an immediate threat to life in the West Midlands a highly Specialist Team are on call 24 7. ready to race to these major traumas by Road

And air lifted responding to the most severe 999 calls open up the Lucas device over there for me day and night all right well done from car crashes yeah I just need to check to stabbings we’re gonna put some auction on your pal here where time is critical lives will

Be saved on roadside in back Gardens and inside homes okay coming off the chest these emergency doctors and paramedics use cutting-edge trauma techniques and surgery normally only seen in operating theaters to save people from almost certain deaths sorry I know mate oh no we’re going to sort you out

Filmed over two months with the critical care team Ready Set slide we captured every vital second as these specialist Crews work to save lives tonight A desperate 999 call leads to multiple casualties in a major car crash there’s people trapped in the car and she’s screaming where’s your worst pain

A woman with asthma suffers a cardiac arrest let’s get some adrenaline we’ve got 40 seconds until the next rhythm check scooter accident inflicts devastating injuries yeah we’re on it we’re on it get your paying sorted out right and please fire brigade and ambulance race to the scene

Of a stabbing any details on Twitter conscious breathing or not over have a good life in here at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham Critical Care paramedic Ian Locke and Dr Richard Brown have just dropped off a patient and are restocking their fast response vehicle with drugs

And equipment for the rest of the shift we’re gonna try and get all the kit together in good order um so if we if we are required that um that we know where the essential kit is ready to go so um organized chaos is how I’d like to describe it Hello okay are you in church okay all right listen what’s the address where are you ask somebody to help you okay are you out of the car yeah we’re fine love okay four ambulances multiple police units and two fire engines have been called to the site of the crash

On channel leaving QE now Critical Care backup is also urgently required so Richard and Ian need to get there fast still trapped in the vehicle would increase that was all copied our eta’s possibility three to four minutes ever with multiple casualties this is a major incident requiring all the emergency

Services to work together to save lives never fight him how you doing you’re right [Applause] on arrival they are briefed by West Midlands ambulance tactical Incident Commander Tim who is coordinating the whole emergency effort yeah on ambulance here we’ve got three more in there one has just been dragged out a

Male patient got some concerns are his Airway okay two more places in the back they’re lying on top of each of the moment we’re just trying to get a plan to get them out okay the four friends were returning from a restaurant when the car lost control

Before hitting trees and landing on its roof one female passenger in her twenties was ejected from the vehicle and has just been moved onto the ambulance if one of you comes quick look because they’re pretty much packaged and they can get going okay you have a quick

Eye on this one yeah yeah if you could also look at it the chat that they dragged out really potentially got Airway yeah okay sure what we’ve got very quickly the patient on the ambulance is the woman who called 999 she is complaining of severe back pain

She is also bleeding from a head injury very quickly patient one is the ejected female is a GCS 14 stroke 15 good bilateral radials moving all four limbs they’ll get the crew to ring you when they’re ready to go with an atmosphere Worcester okay with her spine immobilized Ian and

Richard decide that she is stable enough to be taken to hospital right that’s the question one an ambulance crew prepared to take her leaving the critical care team to assess the rest of the crash victims that was going to Worcester you want to just have a look at how long it’s been

Dragged out yeah where are they just uh is this person look everywhere okay what have we got the driver a man in his 40s is in a much more serious condition is he speaking to you too from his seat by the ambulance crew and is now on a stretcher and only

Semi-conscious this chap dragged out is okay so I’ll just get around that way we’ll just scoop him on his side if that’s where he’ll be can you open your eyes my friend where is your worst pain in your chest are you are you happy on your side or a lying on your back

[Applause] as Ian and Richard tried to assess his injuries screams are heard from the wreckage of the car where the other two passengers are still trapped [Applause] isn’t it ambulance services to Patient breathing the critical care team and Midlands air ambulance cover an area of around 6 000 square miles

The largest operating area of any specialist trauma unit in the country in a 12-hour shift they will respond to around eight life-threatening emergencies the most frequent call out are to Serious traumas from road traffic collisions and cardiac arrests is there a Lucas just compression device it’s on the specialist platform such as

The critical care Corp I think it’s going to be rolled out eventually onto the air ambulances as well at the start of his shift Critical Care paramedic Pete Edwards is testing a mechanical resuscitation device not carried on ambulances but included as standard on the critical care team’s cars

Continuous chest compressions and it’s a machine it’s automated so you don’t get operator fatigue it frees up a pair of hands on seeing if you’re short of resources and also if we’re going to transport the patients to hospital in Cardiac Arrest it makes the journey a

Lot safer because you don’t have to have somebody standing up in a moving vehicle doing CPR it’s all in there family and services for patient breathing no no breathing at all no patient male or female how old is she how old is she my 40 50. do you have access to an old

Defibrillator yeah on the floor she’s not breathing in her face is okay well the quicker we start speaking for the rate we go in is one two three one two three one two three keep going 16. all right that’s all received thank you today Pete is paired with fellow

Critical Care paramedic Mike Andrews as well as the critical care team ambulance Crews and a specialist resuscitation unit have all been called to the scene so operation who’s in their 50s losing Cardiac Arrest that’s not being confirmed yet we don’t have any resources on scene and although they they should beat us

According to a dispatch with Cardiac Arrest time is everything every minute that goes by without someone attempting a resuscitation the chances of survival drop by 10 percent thank you hello my name is Mark I’m one of the paramedics okay hello guys you’re either on arrival ambulance crew members are

Working hard to save support worker Vanessa okay well she has to start it when you got here okay so first group she was Isis we need to give adrenaline she has been a systolic without a heartbeat since they got there the family yeah is it your mum what’s happened

Is she an asthmatic okay if you found her in cardiac arrest earlier Vanessa who was alone at the time called a relative to tell them she was having an asthma attack when she failed to answer her phone after they called back her nephew went round and found the 50 year old collapsed

No one knows how long ago her heart stopped beating an airway entitled entirely disappears so on the ventilations now I’ll tell you what I’ll come around the top end do you want to do you want to run it and I’ll go to this happened all right my compete will now take over Advanced

Life support because Vanessa doesn’t have a heartbeat it can’t be shot back into a workable rhythm with a defibrillator so they will use chest compressions and drugs to try to get it started again okay should we should we pause for a quick rhythm check so we can all reset

And we get our timings right so okay let’s check the pulse in two places please nothing here mate okay so that looks like a sisterly to me back on the chest then for two minutes and let’s see where are we going after each cycle of chest compressions

Pete checks to see if there is the slightest spark of Life hello how you doing hello there all right as you go we’ve got this lady known asthmatic she’s found a relative three members of the West Midlands care team specialists in accidents and resuscitation arrive on scene pulse check

And we’re one minute 20 to the next Portia but she’s in Ace sisterly so we’re going to start trying to address some reversible causes okay all right success okay let’s get some adrenaline and the glucose set up if we can you got in glucose yet you’re doing the adrenaline okay Adrenaline and glucose a stimulants that could trigger activity in Vanessa’s heart everybody just a second 15 seconds from next pause check we’re going to take a little breaking super and get the Lucas device on so eight seconds if everybody just stands back while the care team get

The Lucas device deploy to three two one okay quick pulls check rhythm check it’s still a systole after 18 minutes of manual CPR the Lucas machine will now take over chest compressions so we’ve got continuous CPR going now the entire team are doing everything they can but with Vanessa

Still showing no signs of Life Pete knows they don’t have much time left to save her okay Yeah are you happy on your side or lying on your back in Redditch Ian and Richard are at the scene of a serious road traffic accident the driver is on the ground semi-conscious the full extent of his injuries is still unknown at the minute he’s talking he’s able to beat he said

He’s got pain in his chest and he wants to go into his back he’s quite cold but we’re just getting on his back and get him off have a look from there there you go because welcome to your back my friends with the help of the fire brigade the

Man is rolled over guys you’re okay just to give hands and we’ll lift him straight he’s bleeding from a womb to his head one female passenger in her twenties has already left the scene in an ambulance the remaining two passengers are still trapped in the back of the car

I do okay given the high number of casualties extra resources have arrived a quick one so the ambulance she said traumatural negatives Ian Richard will focus on the driver leaving the West Midlands care team to take over the Trap passengers when they are freed this chat they’ve also got a house they

Were concerned about his Airway but he’s talking so do another assessment now that he’s on the trolley and there’s two people still in there that are trying to get out so we’ve not had any eyes on them but the heart’s even in there trying to uh the Hazardous area Response Team a

Specialist trained to extricate and treat patients in dangerous situations the fire brigade and ambulance crew are working against the clock to free the two remaining female passengers one woman is bleeding from her head Hour and eight minutes after the 999 call the last two patients are brought out of the wreckage and are on their way to receiving emergency treatment on board one of the ambulances Ian has had the chance to examine the driver and his condition is deteriorating he needs to get to hospital fast

If you guessed that book we want to intervene further we just give a shout pull over Jump On In The Bathroom okay happy yeah yeah Ian and Richard will travel with him to provide continual care throughout the 20-minute Journey this is a male we’re thinking his late

40s injuries wise he looks like he’s definitely got Max the facial fractures and possible head injury as well he’s got a black eye on the right with a very swollen deformed rights cheek his GCS was 13 and is a bit agitated it’s a query ahead and dream cannulated and it’s had some ketamine

Sedation a total of 40 milligrams so far arriving at hospital Ian and Richard deliver their critically ill patient to the waiting emergency doctors so it’s quite a different job that from what you probably used to dealing with so significant RTC with quite a few patients after a complex multi-service job

Everyone can take stock and learn valuable lessons for the future important so particularly that job where there’s lots of people there working and lots of things going on it’s quite useful to at the end go through yeah what happened at the job and what we did

Is what could have been done better and it’s quite useful for the crews for their learning because most of the regular administries don’t go to jobs like that very often at all probably once a year if that It’s Wednesday night and Dr Scott Beatty and critical care paramedic will Meadows are at the beginning of a 12-hour night shift Dr Scott is a consultant in emergency medicine at Salford Royal emergency department in Greater Manchester and does a shift a week for the critical care team I can’t think of a more

Textbook definition of a team that in terms that everyone comes from a different background but it were much better as a as a unit because we bring all our different skills and it all just comes together it’s a very Dynamic team will has recently completed his Advanced

Critical care training and this is his first night as part of the all night trauma Response Unit this is my first shift first sort of solo shift with the doc so Scott’s got his hands for tonight I believe hello resistance to a kitchen line for a stabbing a stabbing the hurricane and to watch the address to come to do the top of the kitchen line bleeding heavily to the chest mine is baby talking he’s just found him yeah attack on scene uh not now he’s a

Pacifier that’s come across him police have requested an ambulance to attend the scene of a reported stabbing with a man’s life in danger Critical Care backup is urgently needed Yeah any details as to whether conscious breathing or Not Over Oh yeah let’s uh have a good life Last year there were almost 4 000 night crimes in the West Midlands it’s an ever increasing part of the critical care team’s workload up in the chase with heavy blood loss but we’re not sure are there any other details of this dish but certainly heavy blood loss suggests that something fairly significant has

Been damaged even the smallest of little wounds could go in a very long way and hit some really vital organs so very complex if the blade has cut an artery or punctured a major organ the man could bleed out and die in minutes Scott and will know that the sooner they

Get there the better chance they have of saving his life away he’s good yeah yeah hypovolemia we’ve got fluids that’s glucose okay so we’re doing the BM as a metabolic disorder in edgemiston critical care paramedics Mike Andrews and Pete Edwards are leading the team fighting to save 50

Year old asthmatic Vanessa who was found collapsed with no heartbeat we’ve got 40 seconds until the next rhythm check but after 20 minutes of fighting to get her heart started there is still no sign of life several of her family members are in the Next Room will this move under her legs let’s

Raise her legs see if that helps anything okay so if you push something under there or that little table whatever’s easiest by raising Vanessa’s legs Pete hopes gravity will send blood closer to her heart and may prompt it to restart that’s it look okay that’ll do

It let’s just keep a legacy I know it’s created a bit less room but we’ve raised the legs a little bit all right no one is sure how long before Vanessa was found her heart stopped beating and time is running out for them to save her Jew next pulse check okay that’s Paul’s

Check there no adrenaline on this cycle with the next one so there’s no pulse of the Carotid and then tidal is 1.3 despite 20 minutes of good ALS um somebody have to have a chat with family regarding that would you is that and I’ll continue with photons okay yeah let’s continue Because they attend only the most serious cases Critical Care paramedics see death day in Day Out anybody in a position to find out the time of the call their hardest decision is always when to stop trying to save a life so what we’re just thinking is

We’ve got a very we’ve got an unknown downtime um we have had some CPR on crew but we don’t know when she’s actually arrested and blue on arrival apparently so the things that are going against us she’s not been in a shockable rhythm at any point and we’ve done 20 minutes of ALS

O Okay do we need to reconsort family or are you happy that lovely is anybody got any objections to to stop okay because everybody happy to stop recognition alive extinct or my time at 16 13. A crew member informs Vanessa’s relatives that despite their best efforts she has died So on lift ready still lived here Right now it can be emotionally draining I think but at the same time you have to sort of detach yourself from the emotional side of it if you can there will always be jobs where you can’t detach yourself there’s a there’ll always be those jobs that always stick

In stick in our minds that we all keep locked away somewhere the jobs that you know you can’t really forget but I think you’ve got to be quite thick-skinned foreign there are more than thirty thousand out of Hospital cardiac arrests in the UK every year The overall survival rate is just one in ten in Wolverhampton Dr Scott Beatty and critical care paramedic will Meadows are on route to a stabbing a passerby called police after he found a man with a serious chest wound Lying by the side of the road Are we they haven’t told us what are they with violent incidents like stabbings where multiple units are scrambled police usually arrive first and secure the scene while ambulance and critical care Crews head to a meeting point nearby Delta 98 sorry just clarify are we heading to an RVP or can we go straight to scene over Please yeah perfect we have approximately four minutes left to run over for the critical care team reducing the number of deaths from stabbings is a top priority their skills and experience with treating major bleeding and shock are vital when it comes to saving lives thank you the ambulance crew has just arrived on

Scene but with no sign of the incident or police they radio back to control for further instructions it’s now been 14 minutes since the emergency call was made and try to make contact with them at the moment the impression from the police and the first cruise on scene is

That yeah it’s a malicious call unfortunately it’s not uncommon um we get a fair few and it’s just obviously significant waste of resources yeah understood yeah with no sign of any stabbing victim the police have decided that it’s been a hoax call and a wasted Journey for everyone Last year West Midlands Ambulance Service received over a thousand malicious calls in the time they’ve been dealing with this prank ambulance control have taken 50 real emergency calls I guess you don’t feel close to Madison when you get you launch the helicopters you’re up in the sky and everything and

That’s just a huge amount of money wasted for someone’s entertainment Ambulance Service patient breathing he’s made an accident on the Litchfield Road pains in his chest what is he away don’t move don’t move him he’s got chest pain and I think although molestown towards all get on the left hand side really hurts grew on the way to You when a car hits a motorbike even at low speed the injure is inflicted can be life-changing an ambulance has been called and critical care paramedic Steve Mitchell known as Mitch has also been scrambled we’re just off to Austin it’s about 10 minutes away to a car versus motorcyclists believe the patient’s

Conscious got a chest injury and that’s as far as we know really there’s a crew on the way and they’ll be there before us if the man is struggling to breathe he may have an obstructed Airway Mitch carries Advanced Airway equipment including ventilators so he can start

Treatment straight away and get him to hospital safely 10 minutes later Mitch arrives at the scene and is met by fire brigade and ambulance crew what’s your name sir what we’ll do is we’ll get you in the warm dust you off a bit all right 47 year old Railway worker Ian was on

His way back from work on his scooter when a car collided with him at a Crossroads catapulting him onto the road right shoulder holding on his own but in a lot of pain it looks like he’s probably dislocated or broken by the size of things so I just so don’t pull anything

There’s a high chance Ian has injured his spine in the Collision so the ambulance crew have immobilized his head and neck to try and protect him from further damage on your count chief after three one two all right left okay stay as you are and then slide the trolley in mind your toes

Gently okay keep going I’ll get the winch off worried that the slightest jolt could leave him with permanent spinal damage Mitch needs to use the winch to pull the stretcher up the ramp Inches that’s you go hold on okay slack taken up there okay just makes it a bit smoother for you once on the ambulance Mitch needs to do a full examination to try and find the extent of Ian’s injuries okay Courtney you want to get some morphine

Drawn up and some paracetamol is it a lot of pain yeah okay it is a little bit of water just wet the whistle out of ten how bad would you say the pain is in your arm 10 being the worst ever just it just feels like there’s

Something wrong there yeah yeah it will be okay it’s my chest your chest yeah all around there it’s really important chest up here as well further down here look forward okay right okay Ian is in so much pain it’s clear that he has sustained some broken bones and potentially damaged internal organs

Keep your arm low for me again okay so we can pop a little knees in there Mitch’s first priority is to reduce his pain so he can get him to hospital fast painting saw to that right Amber and service patient breeding uh it is but it’s not very good she

Conscious the patient no help responding no how about the patient what was the shoes 1934 so he’s 85 years old and he’s not responding to at the moment he’s very very pale in color very pale if you’re taking regular breaths at the moment she’s chest wise and falling evenly no I

Have to open a range for him I can’t be I was trying to get those freakish we can’t have blue lights and Sirens okay the call is from a local care home it is classed as a cardiac arrest a Code Red emergency an ambulance is on route but Critical

Care paramedics Alistair McNeil and Mike Andrews have also been scrambled what looked like a nursing home or sheltered accommodation a foreign Cardiac Arrest Charlie One Call we responded as we are one of the closest resources to the case we have another crew that are on Route as well

But no one unseen yet as far as We Know in the UK around seven and a half million people are living with heart disease as we get older the heart and blood vessels stiffen meaning the elderly are at greater risk of sudden cardiac arrest this is the time of worry when people

Are getting up and they’re moving around and carers are making their first sort of visits of the day so this sort of case is not uncommon at this time of day a lot of the time it’s their hypoglycemic patients so they’re diabetics or even non-diabetics who whose blood sugar has gone low

And they’ve been found in an unconscious state still a couple of minutes away from the care home Alistair and Mike know they need to get there fast if they are going to intervene and save the man’s life What we’re going to do is we’re going to get a noodle in here give you some pain we leave through there and that will help the breathing all right don’t you fists a few times that’s it in Aston Mitch is treating 47 year old Ian who was knocked off his scooter and

Has suffered serious chest injuries so he starts with 95 on air it’s sort of coming up quite quickly there as well I’d go up a bit yeah he’s having a bit of difficulty breathing I think and like what’s happened sharp scratch then okay Ian needs an urgent scan of his chest

And lungs and is in so much pain it’s affecting its breathing yeah sorry Chief a lot more pain than I was out there yeah he kicks in once your own painkillers wear out your system if you want to Chuck us that more fine I think any allergies at all then well not

Really now so this will make you feel a bit fuzzy okay out of 10 how bad would you say the pain is there I’d say it’s pretty bad about eight out of ten and you look like a Burly chap that can take a bit of pain Ian’s blood is showing low oxygen levels

He may have damaged his ribs and lungs but until he can get on top of his pain Mitch can’t be sure of the extent of his injuries just pop your head forward slightly not too much not too much rest your head back especially how’s that can you feel that starting to

Kick in a little bit there yeah yeah nice slow breath if you can as a pain doing their uh Ian it’s subside him but it’s still there yeah okay we’ll get you yeah yeah it’s working now yeah finally the combination of paracetamol and morphine start to take effect sister needs respiration now I’ll

Probably give him a little keep going until you’ve done the 20s yeah with Ian still struggling with his breathing Mitch decides to keep him on oxygen for the journey to hospital I will probably end up going QE I think because he’s got a chest injury how old

Are you sorry Ian 47 okay maybe just put a 250 bag of fluid on there and just run the rest of it through just give me like a bit of a keep open or something like that if his blood pressure drops the intravenous fluid will help to keep him stable

All right left oh and shoulder injury later left yeah police arrive to get details of the accident and Mitch calls the trauma desk to update them Crew are gonna come by to the QA uh so mail on them as well a small motorcycle he’s got a left shoulder lateral clavicle pain with left sort of lower rib injury query fractured Wheels equal air entry but it is affecting his respirations in lot of

His rib injury I sure feel that it’s suitable for the QE that would probably be about 15 minutes from now with Ian now in a stable condition Mitch is happy to leave him in the care of the ambulance crew for the journey to hospital [Applause] To the crew in Quentin Aleister and Mike have been called to a care home where an 85 year old patient has been found in an unresponsive State bleeding from the nose good morning hello again hello again you’re right they are met by the ambulance crew members of the care home staff and

Happily are now conscious Ken so which nostrils of blood come out Ken and his wife Maureen have lived in their apartment in the care home for eight years he collapsed this morning getting out of bed how is he normally compared to this because he don’t know

Him too well no well we know him but we’re dancing is that what you do yeah or I’ll keep some on their toes I would imagine so when you sat up you just felt a little bit Dizzle yeah and when I got around yeah oh there it happened yesterday as well have you

But no chest pain or anything the crew take a sample to test Ken’s blood to see if low blood sugar could have caused him to pass out okay okay he was getting out of it and the blood not coming everybody pick it up did you leap

Out of bed did you what was that that normal 6.9 six nine are you happy with his ECG and everything yeah the electrocardiogram test hasn’t shown up any abnormalities in Ken’s heart rhythm I can’t manage it though no no you can’t if you ‘ve done it and I couldn’t live yesterday as well

But Alistair is concerned that this is the second time he has fainted in 24 hours the nosebleed could be a sign of high blood pressure or heart disease that needs investigation in hospital I don’t see there’s any news but Ken is not convinced Ken has a history of fainting when he

Gets up in the night but has never had a proper diagnosis did he go to hospital yesterday Mike wants the crew to run another ECG scan to see if there are any signs of deterioration or unusual activity that’s a nice skull you’ve got on your chest isn’t it what’s that from several

Years ago 20 years ago more than that really good it’s indestructible there may be a veteran of open heart surgery to unblock clogged arteries Kenny’s made of stern stuff but in the end he listens to medical advice and agrees to go with the ambulance crew to hospital

Okay take care thanks very much thanks a lot guys nice one who leave you to it we’ll see you later and Mike and Aleister are free for their next emergency call Thank you Thank you Foreign