Still can't quite believe the ambulance service said 'we can't help you' :-O

[mineofuselessinformation]

DC2 (young adult) woke me at 6.30 this morning in severe abdominal pain. I ran through the usual things: painkillers, constipation etc.
By 7.30 it had escalated (pain score 8), so I called 111. They advised that DC needed to have help: they would call back within the hour or send a non-urgent ambulance. Advised if pain worsened to call 999. Happy with that although not good to see DC so unwell.
30 mins later pain had increased - DC slapping themselves on the leg to try to distract from the pain and in clear distress, so called 999. Ran through symptoms with them, told them 111 had advised to call.
Their response after asking questions: 'we can't help you'.
Luckily 111 called back five minutes later so I told them what had happened. They sent an ambulance which attended. Advised to take DC straight to A&E as symptoms weren't giving a clear picture as to what was wrong, clearly needed to be seen, but not at death's door just yet. (I don't have an issue with this but did tell them I was concerned at driving quite a distance with someone so unwell in the car in my own.)
We duly attended and the upshot was that DC has what used to be called a 'grumbling appendix'. We were told symptoms may well recur and to attend A&E if they do. (By this point the pain had settled a lot due to codeine.)

I've never experienced this before - the 999 call handler had no way of knowing nothing serious was wrong with DC, yet still gave me a flat no - and I was told to ring by 111. (And DC could have had a ruptured appendix, given their pain and symptoms.)
I don't know why I'm posting except to get it off my chest, but I am wondering if the call handler needs to have a bit more training?

Im sorry this has happened to you

but we were warned this would happen back in 2019,

an oap neighbour fallen had to wait 6 hours for an ambulance
a friend had to wait for 3 hours after a fall outside

You can drive, and have a car to drive - in an emergency pandemic situation, maybe some people would be thinking the ambulances are for the heart attacks and the elderly and those who are entirely alone. If your child is a young adult (how old are they, 16?) and able to speak through the pain to an ambulance crew, the crew must have thought they would survive the 30 min or so journey with you to A&E.
Let's keep the 999 blue lights to the at risk of dying or those judged by the crew to need it. I think they know, seeing the population every shift.
And if your young adult was in such pain I'm surprised you managed to resist bundling them into your car and taking them to A&E yourself.
I think you'll think I'm harsh. I simply want the ambulance crew to be able to attend on a blue light to my family when they truly need them, at risk of dying.

Is it not more to do with ambulance issues? My friend's DH was having a heart attack last week, she was told it'd be 3 hours or she could drive him herself. So she did - luckily he is fine, they live 5 minutes from a huge city hospital. They knew what was wrong but they had no free ambulances to send, so they couldn't help in any meaningful way.

If it's that the call handler genuinely thought severe abdo pain in a child wasn't something they could help with, I'd definitely complain and hope it meant they got their decision making skills brushed up.

Is it possible you were being 'too' calm? I've found that while being calm and collected is infinitely more useful, they tend to assume if you're not panicking that they don't need to be involved!

I would have driven, everyone knows how stretched the ambulance service is and whilst horrible for you and him it's not really a 999 situation. If things had deteriorated on the way I would've stopped and rung 999 at that point. It's been in the news over the last week about covid rates in east of England ambulance service so things are even tighter than normal

@msc6199, whatever you imagine, that's exactly what was said.

@housemaus

Is it not more to do with ambulance issues? My friend's DH was having a heart attack last week, she was told it'd be 3 hours or she could drive him herself. So she did - luckily he is fine, they live 5 minutes from a huge city hospital. They knew what was wrong but they had no free ambulances to send, so they couldn't help in any meaningful way.

If it's that the call handler genuinely thought severe abdo pain in a child wasn't something they could help with, I'd definitely complain and hope it meant they got their decision making skills brushed up.

Is it possible you were being 'too' calm? I've found that while being calm and collected is infinitely more useful, they tend to assume if you're not panicking that they don't need to be involved!

They don't make the decisions, the computer does. It's a world wide system that triaged patients, they input the answers and it gives a code for different categories Abdo pain will never be the highest or second highest category unless the person is unconscious or not breathing

We came across an old lady who had slipped in the rain a few weeks back, clearly broken her hip and couldn't get up, called 999 and they told me couldn't help and to call 111. 83 years old, lying on the wet ground with a broken hip. Heartbreaking

Appendicitis isn’t an ambulance thing.

Next time call a taxi if you (understandibly) feel a bit anxious to drive with someone so unwell in the back seat. It would probably have been quicker.

You should have driven him in immediately and kept the ambulances to those experiencing genuinely life-threatening emergencies without anyone with them or without transport. Ex-EMD here.

But the call handler was right. Your DC didn’t need an ambulance.

Unfortunately as others have said with an over stretched ambulance service it doesn’t sound like a 999 call. Driving to a&e was the most obvious solution. Even once at hospital waiting in an ambulance can often take hours longer then arriving yourself as they need staff to offload ambulances. They are been know to be queuing out side for hours on end at the moment.

I wouldn't dream of calling 999 for somebodays stomach ache.

Not understanding why you thought an ambulance was necessary.

By the time you’d faffed and waited you could have been there.

@housemaus, maybe I was too calm - but I didn't want DC to know worried I was.

Surely you'd have just driven to A&E yourself anyway?

Ambulances are for people who can't get themselves to hospital.

I'm not sure I can think of anything that causes abdominal pain in a young male and requires an ambulance.

Going to A&E - yes. Going by ambulance - not necessarily.

DOI: A&E doctor.

Sorry OP I think I would have driven. Even appendicitis wouldn’t have been helped by waiting for an ambulance- surely ambulances and their trained staff are for chest pain type immediate risk to life or any other emergency situation with no alternative , not people who don’t fancy 30min drive to hospital? But even more than that if you were guaranteed to get to a hospital full of doctors in 30 min, why did you wait?

My family member and a good friend are paramedics. It’s a nightmare for them at the moment. They are ridiculously understaffed due to people isolating and as of recently aren’t even allowed to go back to their station for meal breaks to save time so have to sit in the ambulance on the roadside to eat. There are huge queues at a and e so they are waiting there for hours to hand over. Really unless it’s literally a life or death emergency or I had no transport I’d definitely be driving to hospital myself.

I never understand people who don’t just get in their car, ask a neighbour, call a taxi. Just something....

Why on earth would you wait for hours for an ambulance?

@Viviennemary, so potential appendicitis = stomach ache? I'm glad you're not my mother.

Currently there are no ambulances. Either the staff are off sick with Covid or they are parked outside hospitals unable to offload patients into A+E because A+E is too full to take them.

If I need to send someone into hospital, as a health professional, unless I need an immediate emergency response/there is no transport/I cannot physically get them into the transport I now always get family or friends to take them. It's quicker and preserves the ambulances for people who desperately need them.

Sorry but a young adult with abdo pain can go in a car even when there isn't a pandemic on. He'd always be the lowest priority category.

[quote mineofuselessinformation]@housemaus, maybe I was too calm - but I didn't want DC to know worried I was.[/quote]
It wouldn’t have mattered how calm you were. It didn’t necessitate an ambulance since you could have got him there yourself. You may have got one if the service wasn’t stretched and they had some spare, but right now it’s beyond stretched.

If there isn't an ambulance free they can send one. There have been quite a few cases in my town of people falling over and not being able to get up. They then have to lie on the floor for six plus hours. Strangers generally didn't feel confident hauling up an elderly stranger. There just aren't the ambulances to be dispatched.

Last summer DS hauled his friend into A&E with a broken leg. Staff told him off and asked why he hadn't called an ambulance. DS said because last time his friend broke his ankle (very badly) he was left in pain for 5 hours so they did when they needed to do to get pain relief as quickly as possible.
TBH I would have shoved my adult DS in the car immediately and headed to A&E/ walk in. It's probably what you should do if his appendix hurts again, OP.

When my DS was 12 he had a grumbling appendix and the pain was excruciating.

It didn't occur to me to 111 or 999, I just got a taxi straight to A&E.

Hope your DD feels better soon