They are the lifesavers who work 24 hours a day, 365 days a year to be at our side in an emergency.
And as latest figures show they may be putting their own lives on the line simply to do their job, reporter Adam Walmesley joined a South Western Ambulance Service crew to experience a weekend night shift in and around Exeter.
999: A man has been found lying face-down on a sofa in his home. His heart has stopped beating and it's a race against time to maintain any slim chance of survival...
South Western Ambulance Service provides ambulance and urgent care services for people across a large geographical area including Exeter.
To see this emergency service live in action, I followed an ambulance crew out in Exeter and the surrounding area on a weekend night dealing with everything from drunken falls to cardiac arrests.
"Let's see how many lives we can save tonight," a paramedic says to his colleagues when I arrive at headquarters just before 7pm.
The seven city-based crews primarily work 'on the road' either attending incidents or being stationed at a point where they can easily reach people and places.
Lead paramedic Kelly Connor-Fortune and emergency care assistant Ali McCreadie have more than a decade and a half of experience between them when I join them near the start of a typical 12-hour shift.
By the time we meet outside the accident and emergency unit of the Royal Devon and Exeter Hospital, I've already witnessed a major incident.
The first 'blue light' emergency of my night was for an elderly man who has fallen-over in the bath.
But moments away from the destination, the crew are diverted to attend a cardiac arrest – a serious condition in which the heart suddenly and unexpectedly stops beating.
Every second is crucial and optimum use of the 'chain of survival'– from effective bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) to early defibrillation – can make the difference between life and death.
The man, aged in his 60s, is unconscious in a downstairs room of his Heavitree home. It's crucial they reach him within eight minutes to reduce the likely chance of death.
Police officers, who forced entry into the property, are on the scene with two ambulance service crews. They repeatedly say there is a "possibility of legal highs involved" – substances designed to produce similar effects of illegal drugs, but not technically illegal.
"Legal highs are a prevalent and growing problem for us," says emergency care assistant Kevin Bowyer.
The number of UK deaths linked to so-called 'legal highs' has risen sharply in recent years – from 10 in 2009 to at least 68 in 2012.
"They are immoral but not illegal. So sometimes you feel like you're fighting a losing battle," adds colleague Lucy Moyle.
Regardless of any substance involvement, the survival of cardiac arrest patients is a key measure of performance.
As the Heavitree man is carried into the ambulance, his chances of staying alive are just one in 12 (eight per-cent).
But as a dozen emergency service staff surround him in hospital, the man appears to have regained consciousness.
Outside the hospital, I join Kelly and Ali who are about to leave for Crediton where a four-week-old baby is having breathing problems. The mother is worried her daughter could suffocate, but after a quick examination she is reassured the condition is not serious. .
Crews can be tasked to deal with an eclectic range of problems including non-injury falls, chest pains and mental health problems.
Despite being based in Exeter, the ambulance can get called-out across the region and transfer patients to places including Plymouth and London.
"Our job is like a box of chocolates. Sometimes you can go for ages without anybody dying and then have three or four in one night," says Ali.
But it is not only members of the public requiring treatment. In the past year the number of assaults on staff has risen to 104 reported incidents.
Paramedic Steve Morley says: "Some people are very nasty. You meet them in their most vulnerable state, and you've got to be savvy in dealing with them. But it's still a very small percentage that are abusive."
The next patient is described as a "regular" who calls the emergency services at least once a week and sometimes almost daily.
Staff are concerned he may be a "time waster" who is unintentionally diverting resources from genuine emergencies.
"He knows how to play the system. But we've had team meetings to ensure we respond to him in the most appropriate way," says Kelly.
Nationwide the service is under huge pressure, with four million emergency calls a year and an ambulance dispatched every five seconds at an average cost of £250. Every day 114,000 people are admitted to hospital in an emergency.
Paramedics are finding themselves dealing not only with medical emergencies, but increasingly a myriad of mental health issues including depression, psychosis and self-harm.
A woman who has called the NHS non-emergency number 111 saying she is "feeling suicidal" is immediately upgraded to a 999 emergency.
Kelly says: "Even though I've only had two hours mental health training, we deal with mental health issues on every shift. You have a duty of care in that moment, but sometimes you feel like you're going round and round in circles. It can be incredibly frustrating at times."
As the clock passes 1am, Kelly predicts the next call will be an alcohol-related incident. She's absolutely right: a university student has fallen off a chair and injured his head at the Lemon Grove nightclub.
It turns out a female friend unexpectedly sat on his lap causing both parties to land on the floor.
She says: "I wanted a photo and sat on his lap with force. Fortunately I'm okay, but he's cut his head pretty badly."
The wound requires hospital treatment and the duo are driven to A & E in the ambulance – but that won't cut the waiting time.
Ali says: "He needs stitching or gluing, but not straight away. And as it's very busy here tonight, he's probably looking at a three-hour wait to be seen."
We're returning to base when another call is received – it's a cardiac arrest at Exeter Prison.
Once we've got through several layers of security, the prisoner is located and carried into the ambulance.
His chances of survival were initially low, especially in the light of some ongoing health issues.
But since receiving CPR in the prison, there has been a return of spontaneous circulation – meaning his heart has started beating again. Potentially it's the second life saved tonight.
Kelly says: "It's been a typical busy night. We've done lots of different types of job: mental health, falls, head injuries and there are lot of jobs we haven't done. Some of the other crews have picked-up the rowdier drunkards."
In the face of huge pressure to meet response targets, and to deal with a widening spectrum of calls and even abuse – the staff of South Western Ambulance Service always maintain their professionalism and commitment to saving lives.
