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Original poster

What happens to your bag if you’re taken away in an ambulance?

56 replies

Adviceplease123456 · 27/12/2023 21:19

I don’t know why but this has become a recent obsession of mine - I want to know if I’m walking down the street and collapse or get hit by a bus etc - and need to get taken away in an ambulance, what happens to the stuff you have with you like bags etc? If it goes with you surely the hospital staff can’t be responsible for all your stuff if you’re being wheeled around from place to place? I was thinking about a phone for example would they make sure it came with you (thinking could my husband track me on find my friends and find me if something happened etc!)

I know in a life threatening emergency it would be the last thing on your mind, but I often muse as I’m carrying my work laptop around, would it just get lost in all the commotion of an accident never to be seen again?!

any hospital staff know?!

OP posts:
TheSnowyOwl · 27/12/2023 21:21

It goes with you.

MizzMarple · 27/12/2023 21:27

I’ve collapsed in the street (with my laptop!) and it wasn’t an issue at all. I don’t remember exactly but they must have just kept it with me wherever I went.

alphabetti · 27/12/2023 21:49

It goes with you to hospital and then they put it in a safe with your name on and it’s either returned to you or if you were to die gets given to your next of kin

DoAWheelie · 27/12/2023 21:53

It goes with you. Whenever I got wheeled from one room to another they'd throw all my stuff on the bottom of the bed and ask me if there was anything else I had with me before we set off. Once on the ward I had a locker or lockable bedside table and put things in there when I had to go off for any testing.

I've had 15+ hospital admissions and never had an item go missing other than a single sock that I think got tangled in the bedsheets and taken off with the laundry but it had holes in anyway so I didn't bother trying to get it back.

JustExistingNotLiving · 27/12/2023 21:54

It stays with you.

A bag with all its contents can help identifying you too, if eg you are unconscious.

CharlotteFlax · 27/12/2023 21:56

Ambulance crews are pretty good at making sure you've got your stuff with you - which they may have already located in order to try and work out who you are (eg, if like you say you were out on the street and collapsed)

They will also go to some lengths to re-unite patients with their stuff (I work in A&E and have seen crews come back with another patient but also an earlier patient's belonging that were left on the ambulance)

1AnotherOne · 27/12/2023 21:56

I worked in a&e and it goes with you. If person is deceased we have to account for all items on a record.

uncomfortablydumb53 · 27/12/2023 21:58

Yes it all goes with with you
If you are unconscious they will look for ID

TooFondOfBooks · 27/12/2023 21:59

It goes with you.

If you’re on a solo shopping spree there’s a chance not all your purchases will make it either because some scummy opportunist has stolen from you while you were having a seizure/being given CPR (etc) or because a bag was simply overlooked/mixed up with possessions of bystanders; but paramedics do always try to ensure people’s stuff goes with them.

That is, of course, unless your “stuff” is a wheelchair. This FOI gives a flavour of the issues; sometimes you can “sweet-talk” paramedics into not making you abandon thousands of pounds worth of custom, independence-&-dignity-facilitating mobility aid; but while patient transport/non-emergency ambulances are designed to carry wheelchair users, somehow emergency ones still can’t cope (as per NEAS in 2022).
(Edit: linked video is by North East Ambulance Service; transcript is as follows: unfortunately no you can't take a wheelchair on ambulance this is because we've got no way to secure the wheelchair or person this can become a health and safety hazard you can take a wheelchair on one of our patient transport vehicles if you have an appointment at hospital).

JaneIves · 27/12/2023 22:14

Hello, paramedic here!
We certainly do take items belonging to a patient! Especially if it's identifiable/personal.
We have plastic property bags on our vehicles which can be sealed with a separate tear off strip that remains with the patient. These are not often big enough though.

Personally, I've taken grocery shopping, bikes, buggies and wheelchairs.

The main issue with a wheelchair is if it's motorised or body moulded. These are heavy, most don't fold down and we have no way of securing them during transit so any user is unable to travel in their chair.
We will endeavour to transport but often a wheelchair user will have to be on our bed, and we transport the chair where we can fit it.
This in itself is a problem due to lack of available space should we need it.

Hotpinkangel19 · 27/12/2023 22:18

DH had a massive accident, think loss of limb, critical condition etc. Air ambulance and land ambulance arrived, plus first responders. He was given his things the next day when he asked about them. They had been bagged up and put in a safe.

c3pu · 27/12/2023 22:19

Related question: what if a cyclist gets knocked off a bike? What do they do with the bike, presumably that's not getting carried in the ambulance and tucked next to the patients bed!

Notears2cry · 27/12/2023 22:22

Interesting question

BertieBotts · 27/12/2023 22:22

I helped a cyclist once who had an accident, his bike did not go in the ambulance, DH moved it off the road and I assume somebody went back for it the same/next day. We live somewhere with a very low crime rate so it was probably fine.

notthe1Parrot · 27/12/2023 22:33

I had a bike accident more than 20 years ago. The paramedics found a lock in the front basket and locked the bike up just where I had had the accident. They took my bag with me to the hospital (I was unconscious) and it was next to me when I came round. Fantastic service.

AdaColeman · 27/12/2023 22:39

I've collapsed in the street and been taken to hospital by ambulance, just the scenario you are worried about @Adviceplease123456 .
My handbag stayed with me in the ambulance, and then when I was in the hospital it was moved around with me from ward to ward.

idontlikealdi · 27/12/2023 22:42

Mine came with me and was out in a safe

TigerDroveAgain · 27/12/2023 22:46

I was with a colleague who passed out in the street : between ambulance arriving and her being taken to hospital with blue lights, some lowlife nicked her handbag.

verrymerryberry · 27/12/2023 22:50

My mum had a horrendous car crash and they took her bag. Unfortunately left her hand bag and took her brief case but kudos to the crew for doing that l.

Buttons0522 · 27/12/2023 22:51

Gosh this is the type of thing I ponder frequently. I’ve wondered what would happen if I were on my period and admitted in similar circumstances (knocked unconscious etc)? Would I be provided discreetly with sanitary items? Would I be left to develop TSS because nobody knew??! Something that clearly worries me in my subconscious!

MeinKraft · 27/12/2023 22:56

I want to know what the hospital staff do with the random things they find inside people's bodies...lost dildos, knives, bits of javelin etc. is there a special bin? Do they go in with the bodily waste? Also what happens to all the bits of body now I mention it. All the placentas and manky old gallbladders and so on. And full limbs? What if you get your leg removed, where does it go?

MeinKraft · 27/12/2023 22:57

Buttons0522 · 27/12/2023 22:51

Gosh this is the type of thing I ponder frequently. I’ve wondered what would happen if I were on my period and admitted in similar circumstances (knocked unconscious etc)? Would I be provided discreetly with sanitary items? Would I be left to develop TSS because nobody knew??! Something that clearly worries me in my subconscious!

They'd clean you up and fit you with a catheter so I guess they'd see what the situation is with your period and sort it out for you although if you had a mooncup they might not realise until it starts leaking?

CluelessPadme · 27/12/2023 23:04

I sometimes wonder what would happen if I were unconscious for a few days in hospital and wearing my contact lenses. They dry out and stick to your eyes if you wear them too long; it would be really bad for your eyes if no one realised

ShatParp · 27/12/2023 23:05

Great question OP! I've also wondered this! I also would like to know...if you're with your (young) kids, do they stay with you the whole time until relatives can be traced? Or do they go with the police, for example?

VikingLady · 27/12/2023 23:14

They check for tampons, though I don't know whether it's a cursory glance for a thread whilst they do your catheter. That would miss a mooncup.

People I've known taken by an ambulance have had their stuff in a sealed plastic bag with their name on. Though my granny was asked if grandad could please take her massive collection of jewellery home again. She refused because she didn't feel dressed without it (half a carrier bag full!)