Forget Holby City and Casualty, two blogs tell us what it’s really like to work for the ambulance services – the London Ambulance Service to be more precise.

Tom Reynolds is an Emergency Medical Technician. His Random Acts of Reality (Trying to kill as few people as possible…) tells us about life as part of an ambulance crew in London’s busy east end. NeeNaw is written by Mark Myers, who’s an Emergency Medical Dispatcher (the person on the other end of the phone when you dial 999).

Their thoughts give an astonishingly fresh view on the world in which most of us are consumers, and about which many of us have complaints, preconceptions and opinions. Who makes the decisions about how long we wait for an ambulance? How could it be done better? What’s it like to be on the receiving end of the public at its worst – ill, frightened, angry, unfamiliar with the system.

Both the blogs recently won awards in the 2005 Medical Weblogs Awards, Best Medical Blog going to Random Acts of Reality and Nee Naw emerging as Best New Medical Blog.
Just in case you were still wondering if they really make a good read, Reynolds’ now has a publishing contract through The Friday Project. OK, maybe getting published isn’t perfect proof of being worthwhile reading, but in this particular case, it seems a good validation for this very readable work.

Maybe I’ll even be a little less quick to criticise and more willing to ask what I can do to make things work better as and when I’m next brought face to face with the seemingly impenetrable policies of the NHS.