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Original poster

45 minutes for an ambulance

128 replies

chaddydays · 14/12/2022 14:56

To take a child with suspected meningitis/sepsis to hospital.

A child (baby!) of 10 months. Rash that won't fade under pressure. High temp and vomiting, light sensitivity

Just awful. My friend from across the road ran to me in desperation as I'm a carer for my son so she knew I'd be in

My bloody car was in for a service and I couldn't help her, couldn't take her. Taxi was going to be same time as ambulance so we booked it and it arrived at same time as the ambulance (we did it to see who's get there first and she'd take that option)

Disgusting. This is what this country has come to. What a disgrace.

2 weeks on and that baby girl still hasn't recovered much and is very unwell. My friend is wanting to go public with the story but worried about attaching her face to it

OP posts:
antipodeancanary · 14/12/2022 16:48

chaddydays · 14/12/2022 15:23

If hospitals can't discharge patients as there is no social care then they can't take more patients in from ambulances.

If there is no carers to help patients who are elderly and/or disabled in their homes or care homes, then patients cannot safely be discharged from hospital.

But this is paediatrics? So usual issues of nobody at home or available to check on elderly/disabled person doesn't apply here much. It's a Paedatric setting

No it still applies. If paramedics can't offload the patient before, they can't go out to the paed.

WiseUpJanetWeiss · 14/12/2022 16:56

I remember the olden days when GPs used to do home visits.
Could this be part of the problem?

General Practice is also in crisis with too few GPs and too many patients. If they did more home visits they would see far fewer patients overall.

antipodeancanary · 14/12/2022 17:04

The reason ambulances are so long at the scene is because the idea perpetuated by TV that they scoop the person off to hospital is very outdated. They are (hopefully) paramedics and advanced paramedics who increase the persons chances of a good outcome by treating them on scene. They intubate, thrombolyse, canulise, give pain relief, fluids, adrenalin, oxygen, kick start all manner of monitors, phone ahead to hospital, decide what hospital is best as not every a&e treats everything so they need to know whats wrong before they set off yada yada. They don't just pick you up and take you away. No need for a degree and years of extra training for that.

ChristmasJingleBalls · 14/12/2022 17:12

Well, yes there is. They are called PANDAS

As said already if you mean the retrieval service then that’s very different. They transfer very sick children from one hospital to another. Each region has a different team made up of very specialist doctors/nurses and ACPs. They do a fabulous job.

There are no paediatric ambulances if you ring 999.

WestwardHo1 · 14/12/2022 17:14

Tessabelle74 · 14/12/2022 16:28

@BotterMon the government set the budget for care packages, the local authority try to find care packages within that budget and fail,ost care companies can't get staff to fulfil the contracts anyway. But you also have private care homes charging upwards of 3 grand a week per resident but paying staff minimum wage whilst adhering to government minimum carer numbers which are ridiculously low! Care work has been seen as a poor cousin to nursing for years, and it's about time that it was given the respect it deserves as care is in an even state than nursing is and until it's sorted the knock on effects in hospitals and ambulances won't be sorted. The government needs to step in and ensure that a genuine living wage is implemented then maybe care work will be a realistic option for people because at the moment, £9.70 to do the job isn't cutting it when you can stack shelves in Aldi for £11

So much this.

It all comes down to carers' pay and conditions and total lack of respect the profession has.

It's actually one of the most important jobs in the country. I know I couldn't do it.

It is also partly caused by poor public health, something else the government has completely failed to address. People are living longer but unhealthier lives.

ColinRobinsonsfamiliar · 14/12/2022 17:19

OP how absolutely terrifying and utterly frustrating for you & your poor neighbour.

There can be nothing in this world more terrifying than having an obviously really sick baby and inadequate access to timely care.

Just wanted to offer sympathy and a few words of understanding.

I hope the little one is recovering now. 💐

MidnightMeltdown · 14/12/2022 17:34

The UK population has exploded over the past 20 years, but where are all the new hospitals and GP practices to pick up all the extra patients?

45 min wait is far from ideal, but it's not bad under the circumstances

TJ17 · 14/12/2022 17:39

For everyone saying “45 minutes is quick nowadays” 🙄 what you think the poor lady who’s child this is should be grateful?!

This is OPs point - it’s bad that 45 minutes is now deemed as “quick” when it isn’t quick enough for an emergency such as this one.
Response target for a Cat 1 is 7 minutes.
A Cat 2 (which I would say OPs example sounds like) is 18 minutes.

45 minutes is more than double the target response time.

Scary times.

I feel for all the people being let down by the current situation anc also the poor NHS workers who are relentlessly trying to chase their tails right now.

FearofQueefing · 14/12/2022 17:40

It's totally unacceptable but unfortunately very typical. I've heard far worse stories recently...

TJ17 · 14/12/2022 17:41

Also:

The average response time should be under 7 minutes and 90% of ambulances should arrive within 15 minutes

itsjustnotok · 14/12/2022 17:47

@chaddydays you’re right OP but what do you think should happen to improve the times?? More and more people are calling ambulances and there aren’t enough of them or they are waiting to offload at A&Es because there is no room there either. NHS staff have been telling us this for a long time and the government has sat idly by claiming it’s all fine. It’s not and the pressure is causing more staff to leave because they aren’t paid enough to take responsibility for this mess. I wouldn’t work as a paramedic or nurse or doctor right now.

Decafflatteplease · 14/12/2022 17:48

A relative of mine, 90s, had a fall and waited 8 Hours.

I recently had major surgery and was told I had to leave after 14 hours post op. I was sobbing begging them to let me stay as I literally couldn't stand but no beds so I had to go.

This is the NHS under Tory in 2022 😱

Mommabear20 · 14/12/2022 17:51

The problem is, the only people that will suffer from 'going public' are the paramedics who are working their arses off to help people! The people at the top that pull the strings certainly won't!

GarlicSauce · 14/12/2022 17:53

Then vote differently. Write to your MP. Don't accept it. It's a disgrace and we are losing our global standing because of it.

bluejelly · 14/12/2022 17:56

I'm so sorry. I do think children/young people should be prioritised over the elderly when it comes to emergency care. No-one should be left in pain though.

Original poster
chaddydays · 14/12/2022 18:05

I think I need to be clearer that I'm not having a go at the ambulance crew

Interestingly I've been in a lot of ambulances, helped people off in my lifetime and met a lot of paramedics helping other people/family. They all seem to be quite funny and level headed, very approachable people

Not seen the same in other healthcare areas (I was a nurse for 6 years)

OP posts:
Topseyt123 · 14/12/2022 18:08

I agree that this absolutely isn't good enough, but unfortunately I am absolutely not surprised by it for all of the reasons others have already mentioned.

My mother's elderly neighbour had a fall a few months ago. It was quite late at night. She did just about manage to tug the phone down next to her and called herself an ambulance - and had to wait 8 hours for it on the floor. She had damaged a hip (which I understand had to be replaced )and couldn't get up.

It has surely come to something when we say that waiting 45 minutes for an ambulance is quite good in relative terms, hasn't it!!

The entire health and social care system has been chronically underfunded for so long now that it is absolutely on its knees and falling apart. No longer fit for purpose.

I do hope your friend's child recovers very soon with no lasting ill effects.

The Tories need to be kicked out at the next General Election. They've been in power for far too long and are a disaster for things like this.

Topseyt123 · 14/12/2022 18:11

bluejelly · 14/12/2022 17:56

I'm so sorry. I do think children/young people should be prioritised over the elderly when it comes to emergency care. No-one should be left in pain though.

The elderly deserve good healthcare and dignity too! Everyone does. I don't like comments like this either as you tend to get more go wrong as you grow older.

Flaunch · 14/12/2022 18:18

It is bad. I was I involved in an incident in Sheffield a few weekends back and had to call the ambulance for 5 seriously unwell people and the ambulance service took 35 minutes to even answer the phones. It’s a wonder no-one has died by the time they got there.

The way our NHS is being run in to the ground is utterly unforgivable.

DarkKarmaIlama · 14/12/2022 18:25

I am actually quite relieved to read it was “just” 45 minutes. It’s not acceptable no but local to me a little girl died after she stopped breathing and the ambulance took longer than that time.

it’s very frightening, you’re most certainly going to be quicker transporting your own child to A and E if you can do so.

rosemarysalter · 14/12/2022 18:30

45 mins is super quick these days

Not acceptable though

Prescottdanni123 · 14/12/2022 18:30

A lot of people will come on here and say that some ambulances are taking 8/10/12 hours to attend. Maybe but an ambulance for a baby with that possible diagnosis should not take so long. YANBU.

mummyh2016 · 14/12/2022 18:33

@Rowthe ambulances are being sent when not needed. My Nan needed to see a GP around a month ago. 111 said all they could do was send an ambulance (she's 93 - it wasn't appropriate for us to take her to A+E and have a 12 hour wait). 6 hours later an ambulance arrived (she was low priority understandably), the ambulance crew were there for another 3 hours as they said A+E was not the place so spent ages getting her a GP appointment and a GP then arrived another 3 hours later. All of these resources wasted because 111 could not arrange an out of hours GP appointment. The ambulance crew said most of their days are spent on the phone to 111 to arrange alternative care when A+E isn't suitable. 111 used to be great. It's not fit for anything now.

rosemarysalter · 14/12/2022 18:33

When is the next election and are Labour foing
To sort out the mess?

Runmybathforme · 14/12/2022 18:39

chaddydays · 14/12/2022 15:23

If hospitals can't discharge patients as there is no social care then they can't take more patients in from ambulances.

If there is no carers to help patients who are elderly and/or disabled in their homes or care homes, then patients cannot safely be discharged from hospital.

But this is paediatrics? So usual issues of nobody at home or available to check on elderly/disabled person doesn't apply here much. It's a Paedatric setting

Ambulances can't off load their patients at A&E, so they are stuck there for hours, this is directly due to to the hospital being full of patients who cannot be be discharged due to lack of carers in the community. There aren't special ambulances for paediatrics.