Not Healthy Service

Next time you are outside an A&E department take a look at the nearest ambulance man or woman. Over the past few years I've noticed that I and my colleagues are becoming slightly portly. I know we are all getting slightly older and maybe letting ourselves go but I have a theory on our expanding waist lines.

The modern ambulance service is a 24/7 operation. We work some of the most unsociable shifts of any profession. What other profession works 1700-0300 or 0100-1300 for example? Because of the way in which we are allocated our breaks (if you are lucky enough to have breaks) chances are you are not going to feel like eating. We don’t get elevenses. We don’t get a lunch hour. We don’t get an afternoon coffee break. We eat and drink when we get the chance. And because of this we usually eat microwave meals or junk food from the local burger van in 30 seconds flat. It's usually washed down with some form of fizzy sugary soft drink or, in the case of night shifts, some form of energy drink.

Couple the poor diet with the amount of time we spend sat on our arse driving from pointless standby to pointless standby, the fatigue of working 12 hour shifts, not to mention that gyms have now stopped giving us discount, you can see why NHS now stands for Not Healthy Service when it comes to the ambulance service