Page 5 | 45 minutes for an ambulance

chaddydays · 2022-12-14T14:56:05+00:00

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

25anxi · 14/12/2022 18:46

unfortunately seems to be the reality of it. i waited over an hour for an ambulance during an anaphylactic reaction to nuts - in that time had went through 4 epipens and was crying and telling my mum i loved her as thought i was going to die. it is terrifying when you realise a service you thought was always there and available actually isn’t

Mehmeh22 · 14/12/2022 18:47

My dad had an hour wait in the rain, having fallen over with an already broken back and neutropena. Then waited in a corridor to be seen and had to wee in a bottle.

My 3 month old daughter had to wait 2 hours for an ambulance and 8 hours to see a doctor for a suspected head injury. They couldn't get me a cot as no beds but gave me a pram when I pleaded I was falling asleep and will drop her as i couldn't hold her any longer.

This is before Covid.

Confused1010 · 14/12/2022 18:48

Our then 8 month old was having breathing difficulties, fingertips going blue - was told the ambulance could be up to 6 hours and that they couldn’t give us a time. We took her ourselves - rushed into resus, oxygen stats in the 60s% - we were very lucky and it was a very scary journey to hospital. This has happened a few times, and I always hope it’ll be different when we call for an ambulance, but it never has been. We live nearly an hour from any hospital so fairly rural, I wouldn’t wait again.

theydontspeakforus · 14/12/2022 18:49

Don't. Vote. Tory.

Repeat to fade.

Bimblesalong · 14/12/2022 18:53

My dad (81 and with heart failure) fell at 1.30 in the night last night. Mum is deaf and found him at 7 this morning. She and the neighbours could not lift him back to his chair. Initial estimates were for a six hour wait for an ambulance but they came after 3.5 hours as he had been so long on the floor.

Mum tells me they were wonderful people - which they are.

I despise this government for what they’ve done to our NHS. Yes, I would love the money on a side of a bus that so many people were conned into voting for to go to our NHS.

SecretVictoria · 14/12/2022 19:11

There are also shortages of taxi drivers in my area for those suggesting that as a solution. Covid wiped their businesses out and they haven’t come back.

Kiwirose · 14/12/2022 19:11

theydontspeakforus · 14/12/2022 18:49

Don't. Vote. Tory.

Repeat to fade.

this.

It is all very well being outraged but what do you suggest to fix it? if you are that outraged then write to your MP asking for a better funded service with better paid professionals.

and for goodness sake everyone - stop voting TORY

Original poster

chaddydays · 14/12/2022 19:12

SecretVictoria · 14/12/2022 19:11

There are also shortages of taxi drivers in my area for those suggesting that as a solution. Covid wiped their businesses out and they haven’t come back.

Here here

OP posts:

DenholmElliot11 · 14/12/2022 20:52

rosemarysalter · 14/12/2022 18:33

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

Yeah, don't worry people. Labour and the cavalry will be along shortly to save us all.

bakebeans · 14/12/2022 21:09

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

Yes but those ambulances will be waiting with patients to be seen in a&e before they can be released for their next job of the evening. The ambulance service doesn't differentiate between adult and child.

bloodyplanes · 14/12/2022 21:27

45 minutes isn't bad at all! Even in ideal circumstances those symptoms wouldn't warrant a cat 1 ambulance at any time!

MrNook · 14/12/2022 21:34

vodkaredbullgirl · 14/12/2022 15:27

I had to wait with a resident, who had a broken hip for over 18 hours.

My elderly grandad had to wait 18 hours for an ambulance yesterday too

Justcallmebebes · 14/12/2022 21:41

Not sure about Labour. Can anyone from Wales let us know? And I'm not being facetious.

I came on v late to question the logic in "they're striking because people are dying" can you elaborate please

VegemiteSammich · 12/05/2023 07:42

Why didn’t she knock on every door in the street?
Why just knock on one door then sit snd wait for so so long with a very sick baby.
why didn’t she run to the local police station and ask for help. If the baby was as sick as you say, they would have taken the baby themselves.
why didn’t get catch a bus?

those may be the questions that baby will be asking her mum when she’s older smh

goinginsaneinthemembrane · 12/05/2023 07:46

VegemiteSammich · 12/05/2023 07:42

Why didn’t she knock on every door in the street?
Why just knock on one door then sit snd wait for so so long with a very sick baby.
why didn’t she run to the local police station and ask for help. If the baby was as sick as you say, they would have taken the baby themselves.
why didn’t get catch a bus?

those may be the questions that baby will be asking her mum when she’s older smh

This thread is from December

Wishiwasatailor · 12/05/2023 07:50

chaddydays · 14/12/2022 15:50

Well, yes there is. They are called PANDAS

Show quote history

Pandas are for retrieval of patients from other hospitals (usually DGHs) to specialist settings staffed with paediatricians and nurses so they wouldn’t be picking up normal 999 calls.

TheChosenTwo · 12/05/2023 07:55

Strange how this thread has had a revival but hopefully op will see it and come back and update us with how the little one is now.
I had to take dd to A&E recently, decided not to take her myself and not ring an ambulance even though I wasn’t sure I should have driven. There was a line of ambulances full of patients waiting for beds.
one of the first questions they asked me when booking her in was had I phoned an ambulance first.

justasyouare · 12/05/2023 07:56

VegemiteSammich · 12/05/2023 07:42

Why didn’t she knock on every door in the street?
Why just knock on one door then sit snd wait for so so long with a very sick baby.
why didn’t she run to the local police station and ask for help. If the baby was as sick as you say, they would have taken the baby themselves.
why didn’t get catch a bus?

those may be the questions that baby will be asking her mum when she’s older smh

I know this thread is from December, and I really hope the child concerned has made a full recovery by now.

However, where I live the bus that goes to the hospital is every 30 mins, if it is on time. That takes a further 20 mins or so to get to the hospital, longer with traffic, temp traffic lights etc. our nearest police station is over 5 miles away. Our local one shut a few years back. I do NOT live rurally. I live in a smallish town. As for neighbours, we don’t know the set up of the OPs road. If it were me, my neighbours would likely be out at work if it was a weekday or elderly and unable to drive.

I am sure the mum was absolutely desperate and would have taken whatever options were available. This is not on her.

Simianwalk · 12/05/2023 07:59

LlynTegid · 14/12/2022 15:26

Don't forget when the Tories come looking for your vote.

THIS. The Tories have deliberately done this. They want to privatise the NHS as it's worked so well for the railways, and the water companies.
They don't care if it works they want to make money.

Eve · 12/05/2023 08:15

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

The aging population has increased and an older generation requires more care, medical support plus retirement taking skills out of the system this has been known about for decades.

i did a module on population economics at Uni 30years ago and was writing essays then on the impact.

this demand was forseeable & should have been planned for but that would have required investment, tax to pay for it etc But successive Govts want short term headline grabbing plans not spending tax money now on preparing systems to cope for 20years in the future.

Brexit & immigration have massively increased the problem.

bellac11 · 12/05/2023 08:36

VegemiteSammich · 12/05/2023 07:42

Why didn’t she knock on every door in the street?
Why just knock on one door then sit snd wait for so so long with a very sick baby.
why didn’t she run to the local police station and ask for help. If the baby was as sick as you say, they would have taken the baby themselves.
why didn’t get catch a bus?

those may be the questions that baby will be asking her mum when she’s older smh

What a joker you are

'run to the local police station'

What local police station would that be and how are police in any way related to health matters, they're not stand in ambulance drivers

GMsAWinner · 12/05/2023 08:49

This isn't a new thing though. Ambulance took about 90 mins to get to my Dad over 25 years ago. My Mum phoned them in the meantime and was told the ambulance assigned to him was with a child and he was next in line. They arrived too late. Who knows if things could have been different if they'd got him to hospital within an hour.

drpet49 · 12/05/2023 08:52

Toddlerteaplease · 14/12/2022 15:09

It's not acceptable, but it is what it is at the moment.

This. Was there really no one else that could have driven her to the hospital?

x2boys · 12/05/2023 09:33

They prioritise the most serious first ,obviously 45 minutes ,is to long for a baby with suspected meningitis/ sepsis and I don't know how quickly they need to get urgent treatment ,but when my 16 year old collapsed in February with Diabetic ketoneacidosis, I rang the paramedics and they were there within minutes,his blood sugars were unreadable,they were so high,and his blood pressure was in his boots,they saved his life .

MargaretThursday · 12/05/2023 09:37

In 2001 I phoned 111 for advice for my daughter. They asked me:
Age (under 1)
Temperature (>39)
Drowsy (yes)
Vomiting (yes, frequently)

They told me it was urgent and they'd phone back asap. They phoned back 8 hours later. Apparently that was the urgent wait time at that point.

By that time I'd seen medical care and she was recovering.

Yesterday was busy for 999 calls in our area. I know because I had to call for someone who had collapsed and unconscious. I was sitting in a queue on the phone for 5 minutes before I got through. Although the ambulance then was there in around 10 minutes, and they had her off to hospital within 30 minutes.

Worse was the time I called 999 on a very similar situation and got the answer machine "We have unprecedented number of calls and no spare operators. Please put the phone down and try again later" followed by the phone hanging up. I got this three times before I got through and then they said they'd send a urgent ambulance which would be with us in estimated 3-4 hours. We used a car.
That was in 2015.

It isn't really a new issue.