People think we just drive ambulances.

They think we just drive ambulances, but we’re good at assessing people – and great in an emergency!” says the 26 year old who previously spent five years helping people after they dialled 999.

Lauren is one of four Mersey Care paramedics working across walk in centres across Liverpool. She performs the same role as other members of a highly skilled team that includes emergency care, paediatric and cardiac nurses, but she brings the unique skills and perspective that comes from being in life and death situations almost daily.

She’s always smiling and has a naturally calming voice and demeanour. But she can be persuasive and assertive. If Lauren has a super power, it’s spotting an emergency and convincing reluctant patients that they need to go to hospital.

“I always introduce myself as one of the clinicians, but if someone’s observations are worrying and they shrug off our advice to go to A&E, I’ll step in and say ‘I’m a paramedic and if I came out to you at home I’d be taking you to hospital’. It usually works.

“I saw a lady the other day who’d fallen off a horse – that’s classified as major trauma with a high risk of pelvic fracture,” said Lauren.

“I recommended that she go to A&E, but I could tell she wasn’t taking me seriously. When I asked her if she was planning to go, she said probably not. I told her I am a paramedic, that I’d seen such trauma before and that she needed to go to hospital. She agreed to go.”

“I made the right choice – I love this job. I’m learning from my colleagues in areas where they have the expertise. In the same way they’ll ask my opinion on whether a patient needs an ambulance.

Paramedic wasn’t Lauren’s first career choice. With a degree in geography, she’d applied to work at the Canal and River Trust, but changed course after she witnessed someone being treated by a paramedic.

“Being at the sharp end has also given me confidence to advise someone to go home. Not everyone needs to be in hospital –recovering at home may be the best thing for them.

It’s clear Lauren has found her dream role. “It’s always been my goal to work in a walk in centre, I’m just so happy I’ve done it sooner than I expected. When someone comes in and needs an ambulance it makes me miss that side, but I feel so relaxed coming to work – I love it here!”