One hour into the night shift with West Midlands Ambulance Service and the control centre is already on its third cardiac arrest.
The highly-skilled MERIT team is administering care to a patient who has been stabbed and is bleeding heavily, the fourth stabbing victim the service has dealt with so far that night. But it's not these high-priority calls that take up the most time.
Just four miles away, another crew must stay with an elderly man long after they have treated him as they've spotted he's run out of vital medication and no one else is available at this time of night to organise a refill.