Emergency services

[Olidora]

Does anyone else think that the emergency services should be recognised / paid a bloody good wage for their services? Saving lives ,seeing absolutely gruesome stuff that they will never unsee !

More and more areas have community falls teams who can go out and lift up people who have fallen and can’t get up by themselves sent by their Careline.

There is an argument that Paramedics should have much better training in mental ill-health, given the huge need for urgent mental health care out of hours.

This is happening, its just not talked about. Google st john ambulance cymru falls assistant's. This is exactly what This is, non emergency but can triage & liaise with gp physio etc. No idea why it's not talked about more. It's happening, just not discussed

Fab, that it has started to be a thing. On this thread it seems in Scotland and Wales then. I don't, however think it is across the whole of the UK.

We occasionally get told there's an emergency MH team out. A paramedic & mental health professional who go out crewed up together. Now thats a bloody brilliant idea I presume it's down to funding that it's not a permanent thing.

When my mother was ill recently they sent a nurse, not an ambulance. She was able to assess her, make the decision she should be in hospital and arrange the transport. A completely different skill to a paramedic.

A few years ago, a colleague of DHs took ill at our house... originally thought to be a heart attack, but it was just a panic attack. He had been drinking. They sent a first response car with paramedic, a riot van, an ambulance and then a normal police car to replace the riot van (which had been the closest available vehicle). In all we had about 15 emergency service workers. It seems a big waste of resources (but apparently they couldn't transport a drunk patient without a police escort)

It seems a big waste of resources (but apparently they couldn't transport a drunk patient without a police escort)

That kind of thing does my head in. Its such a cop out. Ofcourse they can transport a drunk. Different if he's shouting & lashing out, but not just a compliant drunk. Thankfully it's the kind of thing we're now pushing back on and saying no to. Too many organisations set up protocols like that, which involve the police, without any consultation. Again a total waste of resources if its a compliant patient

Yes agree…sadly MH teams are very thin on the ground.Not enough funding and it’s an epidemic 😢

I agree . I did say emergency services in my post. Just think that the general public have absolutely no idea . These lovely people are exposed to stuff that as a normal human being we would have nightmares about..just think they should be recognised and rewarded with a very decent wage inc proper counselling etc .

Or you could argue that the people in the RTCs are taking resources away from the elderly & vulnerable people with MH illness.

Or you could argue that the people in the RTCs are taking resources away from the elderly & vulnerable people with MH illness.

Or you could argue that family, friends and neighbours could help the elderly and vulnerable and therefore not require ambulance services.

When someone you love is lying on the floor, dying of a heart attack, or bleeding out, how much would you pay someone to save their life?

That's the salary that paramedics deserve.

We have a mental health police car and a mental health ambulance car in my area ie a police officer or paramedic paired up with a senior mental health nurse. One for the North and one for the South of the county. They are not 24-7 but are available evenings and nights when there is peak demand. Sometimes there are rota gaps but on the whole it is available every night. It is a bloody good idea and needs more investment and wider roll out. Work together rather than just carp about 'mental 'elf services need to fix this'. The vast majority of the problems presenting to police or ambulance are not mental health problems except in the very broadest sense of drug and alcohol addiction and personality disorders. Not things you can quickly solve by admitting to hospital or medication.

This, and once 'clinically fit' but frail people are ready to leave hospital but they don't as family worry understandably about falls, the advice on mn seems to be 'refuse discharge! Lock the house up and take away the keys so they can't be sent home!'