Former Mansfield headteacher swapped pupils for patients in new role as 999 call handler

Tony Warsop was a director of school improvement at the Flying High Trust, having worked his way up from primary school teacher, to headteacher, to executive headteacher, to director – including a spell as executive headteacher at Mansfield’s The Flying High Academy - Ladybrook.

Now he is six months in to the role of emergency medical dispatcher with East Midlands Ambulance Service and has already helped hundreds of patients to get the emergency help they need and made a difference to their lives.

The 44-year-old said: “I’d always wanted to be a paramedic, but when I was younger I needed to look after my mum who was terminally ill, and just fell into working in education and I couldn’t afford to go back to university to retrain as a paramedic.

“I reached 40 and began to feel trapped – I was earning good money and had a mortgage to pay, so I felt I had to keep doing what I was doing.

“After a long time of thinking about it, I realised I wasn’t trapped, I could sell my house and move to somewhere smaller, which would allow me to earn less and be happier.”

He said he wanted to be in a role where he was helping people on a daily basis, while also having the chance to work as part of a big team, connect with colleagues and experience the camaraderie he had been missing.

Then he spotted the EMD role being advertised and succesfully applied, beginning his training in October 2022.

He said: “When I first joined, I thought it would find it tough emotionally, but actually it’s not that side that I find tough. The pace of the job is much more intense than I thought it would be, and the personal accountability that comes with the role – I need to do a good job for each person who calls 999 for help.

“The hardest incident I have dealt with so far was actually one where I was struggling to locate a patient in cardiac arrest – the caller didn’t know their location and I was distressed as I thought this delay would impact on the patient.

“However, I started CPR instructions, my colleagues were able to track the location and the patient survived.

“There are obviously lots of traumatic calls as well and sometimes you just need to take a bit of time out of the room for a breather.”

However, as this is a second career for Tony, he said being older helps with the role as he can draw on his life experiences as part of doing the right thing for each caller.

He said: “Maturity, wisdom, and age helps because I came into this job with my eyes open.

“The best part of this job is being on the end of the phone in someone’s darkest moment and having the privileged to be kind, compassionate and find a way to help them.

“Every call is someone’s emergency, even if it’s just toothache and we won’t be sending an ambulance, they have called because they are scared and are reaching out for help.”