How many times have you rang 999?

[TazzyDrunk]

Only once when I was about 8 for a bit of a joke.

Five that I can think of.

Once for a road accident that happened in front of me.

Once for DD who has complex health stuff including a cardiac issue which (before her surgery) occasionally made her turn blue. We had a list of things to do when that happened, and if it didn't resolve within a certain time we were to call an ambulance. Only had to do it once.

Once for a little girl at the toddler group I ran who had a seizure.

Another one for DD when she choked.

And once for the coastguard when we were walking on our local beach after a big winter storm and found something which looked like ww2 ordnance - very common in that area but wasn't in the end.

A handful of times through work for acutely ill patients.

Twice personally.

1. Ds1 had an asthma attack in the middle of the night.

1. Rolled my car with ds in the back and ended up in a ditch upside down.

Twice. The first time when someone broke down on the outside lane of the M6 and it was causing chaos.

The second time when I saw two people push their way into a house and there was a lot of shouting, swearing and fighting going on in there.

Twice. Once for large piece of debris in middle lane of M6 and once for a car entering the a30 the wrong way by turning onto the off temp!

Once when dd said she was dying - asthma attack
Once during an assault in my home but the phone was ripped out of the wall and I didn't get through
Once when I saw a woman staggering around as if drunk and recognised it as a diabetes problem.

Never.
I too am on the receiving end of your 999 Calls!

I too am on the receiving end of your 999 Calls!

Same

3 times

-motorcycle rider knocked off bike and unresponsive

• a suspected heart attack
• a house on fire

Threads like this really hammer home the pressure on the emergency services. Without sounding awful, they really are only for life/limb risks.
BFF (Nurse- previously 999 ambulance responder) says biggest strain is people not respecting that ambulances are only for those who require lifesaving treatment during the drive to the hospital.

Apparently if you’ve ever waited more than 30-40 mins for an ambulance (and don’t live super rural) you’re in this category. Can understand why people think they’re justified but equally if you’ve got a broken foot but 5 other people aren’t breathing...you’re gonna be waiting a fair while.

A few times. Once from a phone box as a teenager when there was a man flashing at me and my friend - not an appropriate use of 999 but at the time we were scared! Another time when some cones had been knocked onto the road on the M11/M25 junction, which didn't seem like an emergency but I worried that cars going fast would hit them. Another time when someone from my birth month group on here (then moved to Facebook) was suicidal and posted that she was sitting on a motorway bridge considering jumping. That was a weird one as I was giving the details of someone who was hundreds of miles away to the Met police, but they took it seriously (and indeed according to the poster the local police did track her down and do a welfare check, and she was grateful rather than cross I had called, phew).

Twice I can remember and both on the same day at work and unrelated! One was a fainting / fitting colleague. One was a smoke alarm that turned out to be the cleaner spraying air freshener into a smoke alarm.

I found a small child marching down the road in London unaccompanied at 8am on a Sunday morning. He asked me the way to a road about 4 miles away. I asked his age and whether he was ok - he said he was a very small 20 year old which could be really embarrassing at times as people thought he was a child. He was carrying his diabetic injecting kit and a large tub of haribo.

(He told me not to worry as he ‘had his insulin’ with him, and pointed to a small black medical kit)

I followed him a short distance as he trotted off, whilst calling the police. They very quickly picked him up - turned out he was running away from foster care and trying to get home. He wasn’t a 20 year old small person, he was 8. (Thank goodness - how awful would it have been if he was a small adult.)

I occasionally wonder how he is these days.

Six.

Twice for a neighbour arguing with her boyfriend. It had gone from yelling at each other to banging, crashing and her screaming.

Once for a woman who was screaming in the early hours of the morning. There is lots of woodland around us and we thought she was being attacked but couldn’t work out where the screaming was coming from and she wasn’t responding to shouts. It all went quiet, the police turned up and it was deathly silent, then she screamed again and the police went running.

Once for a fire.

Once because a drunk driver had crashed into a house

Once because it’s not always safe for women to walk home alone after dark.

Twice

First time was years ago when I was driving through town and saw someone set a motorbike that was parked in the street on fire.

Second time when DS double buggy ( with him in it) got knocked over by a car in a car park while I got other DS out the car. Luckily he was ok but we called an ambulance as he was only 16months and I didn't know if he had hit his head, I was so shook up there was no way I could drive!

Twice when we thought MIL was having a stroke. Turned out to be TIA.

Once for DP when he had a weird turn and I thought he was having a hypo.

Don't think I have ever rung for police or fire.

Lost count. Many for people in my care ambulances and police.

My son also had severe allergies as a child and ambulance attendance was a must as an epi pen only gave 3-4 mins grace.

Several times over the years at work
Personally only twice, both for my dm, once when I found unconscious(hypoglyceamic,type 1 diabetic), another time when her back went, she was in severe pain and unable to move

Apparently if you’ve ever waited more than 30-40 mins for an ambulance (and don’t live super rural) you’re in this category

Not necessarily these days. With demand etc during busy periods people can be waiting a couple of hours for genuine, ambulance-worthy emergencies.

As a child when my mum was being beaten by my dad. I was terrified he’d kill her.

As an adult when my husband had an asthma attack then when my newborn stopped breathing.

For work purposes many times - community midwife.

Three times.

Once because some girls from the local girls school (Enfield County for anyone thinking of sending their girls there) sat on my car after school, then their boyfriends threatened to hit me and my children. Aged 2, 1 and 8 at the time.

The other times were armed burglaries at our house.

None but a colleague called while I was treating another colleague having a seizure to get an ambulance. I'm very experienced in dealing with first aid whilst not actually being professionally medically trained and the call handler insisted in staying on the phone and following their script which would have killed the patient. I just hung up in the end.

It went a bit like this:

Them: don't move the patient

Me: I have to, they're fitting under a table that can't be moved and their head is getting ever closer to hitting a table leg.

Them: move the table

Me: I can't move the table it's fixed

Them: move the table

I hung up and moved the patient. Patient is fine.

Police upon discovering a body.

Ambulance service multiple times for an elderly relative, with a number of falls and significant mental health issues.

Always handled wonderfully, very grateful to our wonderful emergency service personnel!

A few times I think.

Once last year for a large fire and once for someone who had been stabbed.

Apparently if you’ve ever waited more than 30-40 mins for an ambulance (and don’t live super rural) you’re in this category.

Not necessarily. I used to be part of ambulance control clinical assessment team and it goes:

Cat1 call - immediate response (cardiac arrest, haemorrhage etc)

Cat2 call - up to 2 hours (life threatening but not immediate)

Cat3 call - up to 4 hours (urgent but not life threatening)

Cat4 call - to be assessed by clinician as may be no send at all or they will triage accordingly into one of the above.

Three times, police & ambulance for a car crash, ambulance for someone injured outside the house and fire service once when I accidentally set the chimney on fire.

Very embarrassing. I managed to look a total tit in front of a whole fire crew.

Ugh more than I'd like!

Few times for fires
Couple times for asthma attacks (dd and I both have asthma)
Once for dd having febrile convulsion
Twice for women I saw being battered by their partners
Once seeing a guy trying to break into a house
3 times for car accidents