Today I called an ambulance.... and was put on hold

[Crunchymum]

About 4pm today I called an ambulance as my disabled almost 2yo had a severe allergic reaction (first time its happened)

I dialled 999, asked for ambulance, and got a recorded message telling me I was in a queue.

Hung up, called a cab instead.

Firstly, I was called back (approx 5 minutes later at most) and secondly whilst it was a severe reaction, breathing wasn't compromised. But what if it had been?

Maybe I'm part of the problem? I did make my own way to A&E (weren't admitted but needed steroids and more antihistamine) so should I have not called an ambulance to begin with?

A&E was as you would imagine. We were seen relatively quickly but took ages for meds and then discharge etc.

I hope that it all works out. I've had the same when I called the police. About my husband.

Sorry, not sure what my point is?

Just musing /thinking out loud

That is so bad, I hope your Dd is ok.

I used to call ambulances a lot in my old job and this is pretty common.

Especially Friday/Saturday/Sunday.

That happened to me a couple of months ago when I called an ambulance. Put on hold.

I didn't know that could happen. I've heard of people being guided through CPR by the operator. How would that work if you have to wait 5 minutes for a call

Quite common where I am too (Met police area)

I've been put on hold when I've called ambulance and police on a couple of different occasions.

Oh poor you OP, how frightening. Hope your little one is okay now. I used to have nightmares about dialling 999 and being put on hold, can't believe it is now common :(

I called the police and was surprised to be put on hold. I was just calling as had been in a 4 car RTC on a busy dual carriageway and we were all in danger of more cars ploughing in to the back of us but it was a good job I wasnt being murdered or something.

Bloody hell, that's scary

Hope your little one is OK.

Has it always been like this?

12 mins on hold for police here recently. 999

I had this when I was in labour and had to call an ambulance. I didn't even get a recorded message, it just rang for around 5 minutes that felt like hours.

You were definitely right to call an ambulance.
The system is under incredible strain.

It does happen. If there's 20 people answering calls and 30 calls...
NYE there can be 40-50 calls waiting to be answered

There is a sort of system, where if the operator is on hold waiting for 999 and it's something incredibly serious like a baby not breathing. They flag it to the 999 centre, and a call handler will stop taking other calls and have that one transferred or ring them back

Sadly very common on busy periods and I’m in Scotland. Hope your wee ones ok

@ClientListQueen

This is what I want to hear... that there is some kind of system for "proper" emergencies!!

@ClientListQueen but how do they know it’s a baby not breathing if you’re just waiting for your call to be taken? Or do you speak to someone and then they put you on hold? It sounded like previous posters have just had an automated message then had to wait, so how would anyone know what the call was about?

This is really scary, a minute or two could make a difference in saving someone’s life.

@Bellasblankexpression when you first ring 999 you get an operator who asks what service you need. They are v good at listening for things so "I need an ambulance, my baby isn't breathing"
And they will flag it up because they're on the line waiting to connect the caller to 999
Sometimes they get people who hang up after giving an address so they will play the recording back to 999 who can listen to it and then input the details

@bellas

Because when you dial 999 your call is answered by an operator asking which service you require and confirming what area you’re calling from, I assume these are the people who are somehow sending a message through to ambulance service flagging what sounds serious. However, what level of training do the initial operators have, and how many layers of triage does the system require?

@QueenofPain I'm honestly not sure regarding the initial operators but you can generally tell what needs not to be queuing - it is life over limb so you're talking not breathing
They obviously can't triage heart attacks/strokes etc but any call where someone isn't breathing and there is a queue
It is rare - in a decade I think I had two calls pushed through via that way
There are procedures if it is busy and calls are queuing, sometimes you won't stay on the phone where in normal situations you would do which then speeds it up, and you catch up with the queue

It's like anything. Ambulances and call handlers aren't infinite, and if there's a busy night or sudden spike, then people will be waiting

There is a sort of system, where if the operator is on hold waiting for 999 and it's something incredibly serious like a baby not breathing. They flag it to the 999 centre, and a call handler will stop taking other calls and have that one transferred or ring them back

Nope...

I dialled 999 and got a recorded message (more than once) telling me all call operators were busy and to wait in the queue.

@WorraLiberty it may be different in other areas. But then it depends if there is the actual 999/BT operators available - if there's nobody to ask what service then you're queueing from there I guess
Once you've got to the what service needed but then the operator can contact the service (ambulance) and flag it

During the london riots I called 999 for fire and ended up talking to the operator for a while as the fire lines were all busy. Eventually I realised the fire I was reporting was on the news so I said I would hang up to free up the line for others.