How many times have you rang 999?

[TazzyDrunk]

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

Twice.

First time when heavily pregnant and sat in the car as DH carried a bag of groceries into our block of flats. A mentally ill man (who I knew from sight) from sheltered housing next door managed to open car door and grab my arm before I could lock it and then when I screamed said in an extremely chilling calm voice ‘call the police then bitch’. We rang 111 after DH had come back and scared him off and they put the call through to 999 who immediately sent an officer round to check on me.

Second time was when I first had a gallbladder attack and passed a stone post-DD1, it happened in the middle of the night and as I’d had zero previous symptoms and was very fit and young I thought I was dying. Genuinely the worst pain I’ve ever felt (and I had DD2 with no pain relief!)

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.

You are woefully misinformed @WorldsOnFire

As I said up thread I have only called for ambulances for my parents - my father was in his early 90s my mother is in her mid 80s.

I have sat on the floor with each of them for for up to 4 hours on several occasions.

The initial check when you speak to the operator is that they are breathing and if they are conscious. Once that is established the patient is not a high priority. That is completely different from not being an emergency or not needing an ambulance!!

The operator calls back periodically to check they are still breathing.

This is South London not Dartmoor.

So for example my mum waited in agony for almost 4 hours following a fall at home which broke her femur. My father lay on the bedroom floor, delerius and distressed with an acute uti for nearly 3 hours etc.

An ambulance is the only way for either of my parents to get to a and e, and both required paramedic monitoring or intervention en route . And every time the paramedics arrived, they were so apologetic and frustrated by the delays my parents experienced. And not once did they suggest that the other calls were time wasters. They were simply over stretched.

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.

My sister is also a 999 ambulance responder and also feels like she can judge people for the reasons they call.

Your friend is wrong, and so is my sister.

If an ambulance isn't required, they won't send one. If they're not sure whether an ambulance is required, they'll send one but that doesn't guarantee a trip to hospital.

Funnily enough, my brother was a paramedic who openly says that he'd rather attend every call because it's not always impossible to diagnose over the phone (by someone who's not actually medically trained, especially) especially when someone's panicking or can't communicate well.

If you came across someone in the street who was having a severe asthma attack who couldn't tell you where their inhaler was, you'd call an ambulance even though they might not need it.

If your elderly parent had a fall and couldn't get themselves up you'd call an ambulance just in case.

Neither of those people would need life saving treatment on the way to hospital. They're not wasting the paramedics time though.

Twice. Once in another country after I was mugged and once here when my drunk downstairs neighbor smashed in his glass front door screaming that he was going to kill his wife.

Too many to count. I grew up with my severely disabled mum who moved into a nursing home last year. It's only since then I haven't had to call999 on a fairly regular basis.
And I was ALWAYS told to call 999 with my mum by the ambulance people, even if we did have to wait hours. I couldnt do it by myself if she fell out her chair or bed or had a really bad infection etc as she is nearly completey immobile.

Once when I found a man passed out in the street on the way home from work

Loads...
Once for DV while pregnant (I had to jump out a 1st floor window)
A few times for DS who had recurrent acute croup attacks (& is asthmatic)
Once for DS who cut through artery in finger falling on a bowl which smashed - they left us 45 mins then refused to come (he ended up having surgery & had lost a lot of blood)
Twice for DS falling & head injury (once was on a bus & head was cut open)
Once for young woman who crashed her car & it landed on its side in our road
I also had a "panic alarm" fitted due to DV & had to set that off twice
Ambulance for me - pneumonia; asthma attack

A few times - I'm a midwife who works in the community as well as the hospital.

Once for a family member, about a dozen times as a midwife. Always gets the adrenaline going!

Once for the police as there was a fight in the street and children were involved.
I've also called 111 twice and they sent ambulances - one wasn't needed, it was a miscarriage but because I was losing blood it flagged up an ambulance had to be called. Paramedics then called me asking if I actually needed them and I said no I could get to hospital myself and I'd tried to tell the 111 lady that but she wouldn't/couldn't listen. Second time it was for my baby who had a high temperature and whilst on the phone became unresponsive. Was absolutely fine once the ambulance arrived 10 minutes later but I was thankful for them and it ended in an overnight stay just in case
Also been involved in 2 rta and 1 rtc where ambulances were called. First rta I had a broken leg, 2nd was put in a neck brace as when I tried to move I went very faint. Rtc the ambulance pulled in after waiting for three hours (I was fine, dodgy wrist but otherwise fine) and said they had a more urgent call further up the road. After four hours a first responser came, checked me over and said I should go to a&e and it would be quicker if a relative took me so that's what we did.

@GiveHerHellFromUs I called 999 as son cut himself falling on a broken bowl. Blood everywhere. They said ambulance on way. Called back 45 mins later says not sending ambulance. Got neighbour to book me a cab - they were furious as he'd lost a lot of blood & ended up needing surgery as cut through artery & tendons. Difficult one as I couldn't know how to explain that, I just knew it looked bad.

Once when I arrived with ds to visit my elderly dad and found him unexpectedly dead.

The operator must have thought I was mad with my ramblings. 'What service?' I don't know, he's dead so it's not an ambulance, 'its okay we'll just send an ambulance to check him ', ok, but it's not an emergency, what if someone else needs it?, 'its ok ambulance is on its way', I'm really sorry I shouldn't have called 999, 'its ok', should I have called 101?, 'its ok',...do you need to go and answer real calls?, 'no, I'll hold on until the ambulance arrives, have you checked he isn't breathing', no, but he's really dead, he didn't need an ambulance, I can hang up and wait if you are busy, 'its okay paramedic will be there in a couple of minutes',....

All the time cuddling my 9 year old. Paramedic car arrived within 10 mins, ambulance probably 5 mins later.

worldsonfire we waited an hour when dd was not responding to her inhalers so Christ only knows what else was going on in the area that night, 2am on a Tuesday morning. We live five miles from the ambulance station.

@QueenOfOversharing that's awful that they'd said they would send one then didn't!

That's what I mean, though. These are unqualified people working in a medical capacity who then try to berate people who call for ambulances.

Without knowing how much blood your son had lost they couldn't possibly make the decision that an ambulance wasn't needed.

I hope he made a full recovery x

Once. A man two cars in front of me had a heart attack at the wheel. Woman in front of me went to his aid while I called the ambulance. They were a good 10 minutes and it was really scary, luckily the woman in front of me was a nurse and performed CPR on him. He survived thank goodness

Too many! I feel so guilty but also grateful for the NHS. DC has long, febrile convulsions and we have been advised by the paediatric doctors to call for an ambulance. It’s totally harmless as they tend to stop eventually, but it could progress quickly so that’s why we need to go. The first time it happened I had no idea what was happening and as she was foaming and sounded like she couldn’t breathe I thought she was dying. Worst feeling in the world ever of total horror and powerlessness.

10 times in total I’d say including reporting other emergencies (police, fire)

Regarding convulsions, it’s not safe to have a fitting child strapped into a car seat to transport to hospital. Plus they may need drugs to stop a very long convulsion.

I do feel guilty phoning an ambulance each time as I know she will highly likely be ok and it’s not a life threatening condition. But that’s what I’ve been told to do by the paramedics and A&E staff.

Ambulances are definitely not a taxi service to A&E. but they are there to carefully transport people where a car wouldn’t be appropriate or where treatment may be required en route

Thankfully only once when I was about 14 and found a boy from my school lying next his bike with a bashed in face and unconscious. He had went right over the handlebars and into the curb edge. He was fine though :)

Regarding calls about someone having been found believed to be deceased, I used to work for BT handling 999 calls but really all we did was directed them to the appropriate service and also if they were suspected hoax calls we'd tell the emergency handler we were passing through to our suspicions and why we were suspicious but all calls are still passed through. But it's quite common to get calls re people believed to be deceased who turn out not to be.

Most people aren't medically trained and so won't appreciate a very low weak pulse or low resps and someone very very sick can appear to be dead - hell even medically trained people can get it wrong on occasion!

So certain calls of this type (depending on details) the assumption/working basis is that the person may be alive but extremely ill and in need of urgent care.

3
Once for an elderly lady
Once for a very bad fire in a neighbours shed.
And once for a poor lad who had dislocated and broken his leg outside my house
I don't think I have for anything else...

Several. Life with a db with a severe mental illness has had its scary moments.

3 times for DS1 having febrile convulsions.

Probably around the 50 mark.

@GiveHerHellFromUs I completely understand their rationale - I could have been someone calling with a very minor injury to DS. I didn't know it was arterial as I'm very squeamish & had it wrapped in a towel. Yes, he's 21 now & that was many years ago - though he had other chronic health issues, inc muscular dystrophy.

Twice for my late (D)F's more serious attempts at killing himself.

And also when DS was 2 weeks old snd stopped breathing. That was terrifying. They sent the air ambulance for him.