"Absolutely soul destroying" is how one paramedic describes his job.
He is not alone.
Over the past few months, BBC Wales has been contacted by employees from the Welsh Ambulance Service who paint a dire picture of a service under immense pressure.
Ambulance waiting times have climbed and climbed throughout the pandemic. The impact that has on patients is well known - but what about those on the other side?
Mark, who did not want to disclose his real name or show his face for fear that he would lose his job, described the stress of his shifts with a radio strapped to his chest, hearing "red calls waiting, red calls waiting".
"That is the potential of somebody's life waiting in the balance - and you can't get there. It's absolutely soul-destroying. We wouldn't treat animals this way, why are we treating humans?", he said.
Mark said the job has always come with pressure and anxiety.
But over the course of the pandemic that has intensified and he has "never known as many people looking for other jobs as they are at the moment".
The stress has become so bad that he is now on antidepressants.
Source: BBC News, 25 March 2022
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