This is pretty much what everyone else has said, have done 4 x 12 hour shifts and a few overtime ones for good measure, have had a grand total of 1 job that required an ambulance, all the others were a complete pile of tosh. Now from time to time yes we do get to do a run of decent jobs, but its few and far between now a days. As for the story, there never seems to be mention of the dispatch people. Now as far as I am concerned, we do what they ask us to, whether that is go on jobs/standbys/rest periods. Or do the press think we are sitting in our ambulances answering the phones too?? Regardless of that, is twenty minutes to sit down, shovel some food down the throat and if your lucky have a cuppa too much to ask in a twelve hour shift? Oh sorry I forgot, we are "superhuman" and run on batteries...... or am I just a little jaded after a long night shift, where I only saw one patient who got close to requiring an ambulance, the other 10 where complete donuts. night night ............