Working Life: Michelle Murray, Emergency Medical Controller

’Once the problem is diagnosed, we talk the caller through a specific set of instructions until the ambulance arrives.'

7am

I work five different shifts over seven weeks. If I’m on at 7am, I’m up at 6am, and at my desk in Wexford General an hour later. My first task is to do radio checks with the crews, so that I know who is available for emergencies. The remaining ambulances are pre-allocated for long-distance transfers — bringing patients to hospitals outside the region. There are 11 ambulance bases in the south-east, covering Tipperary, Waterford, Wexford, Carlow and Kilkenny.