Surprised by not being able to get ambulance

[FrenchFancie]

This is in no way to have a dig at the ambulance service or at the hospitals (but maybe slightly at the junior doctors strike) but I have been really surprised recently when, for the first time in aaages, I have had to call 999 twice, and on both occasions wasn’t able to get an ambulance.

firstly my daughter was having an asthma attack, and not responding to medication. After 10 reliever puffs we called, and were told it would be a 1-2 hour wait. So we stuffed her in the back of the car and drove like idiots to the local hospital instead, where she was seen straight away. But it was a scary midnight drive. Her asthma plan states to ring 999 after 10 puffs and the ambulance should attend within 10 minutes.

second was through work where a child was having an epileptic seizure and again, we were told it was an unknown wait time, possibly 1-2 hours.

both of these things I felt really scared about, wanting urgent professional help and support, but it wasn’t available. I know I’m not going to get an ambulance for an adult with broken ankle, but kids with quick onset, possibly life threatening conditions, I was shocked there was nothing available.

is this the same now everywhere? It’s been years since I had to call 999 (like 10 years) and got a quick response last time (daughter fell off changing table, was in London and overreacted to her banging her head but the crew were lovely).

I don’t blame the ambulance service or 999 operators - in fact on both occasions the operator sounded stressed and upset they couldn’t get me help.

what, if anything, can be done about this situation?

No not the same everywhere. My child is a type one diabetic few months ago he was dreadfully ill. He had high ketones (life threatening) and his nurses told me to call the ambulance. It was here within 5 minutes. But I live rurally not in a big city? So not sure if that has something to do with it.

Getting a large teenager with an open fracture in my car was traumatic for all of us. Unless changes are made to healthcare this is only going to get worse sadly

Sadly it doesn't surprise me having been in a similar situation and it is only getting worse.

This could be area dependent. In the past year both times I have called an ambulance for different people and they arrived in less than 5 minutes

I think that’s pretty much just how it is now
Certainly where we are (Scotland)

A 14 year old lad broke his leg open fracture impossible to move - outside. Ambulance in city centre took 9 hours to get to him.

I was run over and had to wait 5 hours for an ambulance

That is shocking. Well all of these experiences are and sadly not a surprise to me

Sadly not surprised.

Not surprised. My OH called an ambulance for me and was told it wasn’t an emergency and to see my GP.

4 hours of emergency surgery that day said differently.

Do not blame the junior doctors strike for ambulance delays. That is unbelievably ill informed.

Both of those should have had an ambulance faster than that - Fitting Now should have been a c1 and breathing problems a c2 so average response times of 7 mins and 18 mins respectively. (Not 10 mins unless it’s classified as life threatening asthma attack which would be average of 7 mins I think). And depending on the time of day/day of week/time of year you would have, but right now things are dire.

Depending on how far you are from hospital and how ill the child is the fastest and therefore safest route for a child is often to drive them in yourself. It’s horrible.

We’re in Yorkshire but fairly rural - near a large town, but have an ambulance station in the local market town. Main hospital around a 15 minute drive away.

certainly for my daughter, who has wound up in hospital several times with her asthma, it was a scary drive as she’s struggling to breath and obviously getting more tired with the effort.

are there fewer ambulances available now then? Whats changed?

We waited 3 hours for an ambulance for 7 month old with breathing difficulties and then suspected sepsis. Wonderful care once they were here and in hospital, but the wait was so long!

Yep - two I know of in recent months

Elderly gent vomiting and chest pain. Ambulance wouldn’t dispatch unless they could speak with him and he was in no fit state too. Kind taxi driver took him in the end

child hit by car - said would be 2 hours and the person who called said they wouldn’t be able to wait and have the mothers phone number. 3 hours later got a phone call saying ambulance service was sending a taxi

eta I’ve never felt the need to have a car in London but if I had young kids now I would because I feel you would have to take them to a&e yourself

The only reason I wondered about the strike was, if there are fewer doctors in a&e then ambulances will have to wait longer to hand over patients, meaning they aren’t free to answer other calls.

I’m in London. Last ambulance was for v poorly mother. Breathing difficulties. Ambulance took about 15mins.
similar to the other 2 times in my life I’ve had to call an ambulance.

Worcestershire. My partner had severe chest pain during the night. Was told no guarantee when an ambulance would arrive. That was a scary 20 mile drive. Luckily it was due to an infection in the end , but it really opened my eyes to how bad this has become. Previously when i had need to call for my parents, they were here in no time.

The service was already struggling before covid, but I think covid broke it. It’s never recovered. I would never blame the personnel- I’m sure it’s a resource issue. It must be so demoralising and sad to be working for the service now.

I can only speak from experience, but when I was taken to hospital by ambulance and admitted to a gynae ward after a long wait in the corridor, the block was the lack of space in the ward due to elderly patients not being able to be discharged because of lack of social care.
The ambulance crew had to stay with me in a basement corridor which meant one less ambulance for most of the night when they should have been able to dump me and go off on other calls. The gynaecologist examined me in the corridor and they hung my drip off a central heating pipe!
We had to wait for so long the batteries on their iPads ran out and they stayed beyond the end of their shifts, wonderful people.

We had to call an ambulance for adult daughter who collapsed about 2 months ago. It came in 15 minutes but she waited 6 hours outside A&E in back of the ambulance. I guess at lease she was getting basic help from the paramedics.

That's disgraceful.

In my experience a real issue is their tick box algorithms whereby they make the person identify the worst injury. I know somebody who fell badly and badly broke their wrist (their forearm was bent out of shape) and also wedged and broke a vertebrae. The ambulance service would only take cognizance of one injury and insisted the worst was identified which is pretty difficult without an XRay machine in situ.

Because my friend's wrist became agonising she reported that as the main injury and the ambulance service discounted her back and insisted she could get into a private car with just a broken wrist. She couldn't because ahe couldn't swivel into the seat with just one arm for balance. They would not listen to her protestations because they wpukd not acknowledge the back injury.

Passers by lifted her onto a chair from a shop which delayed the ambulance further. She waited nearly 3 hours in the pouring rain. The ambulance service told her to go to the pharmacy and buy some paracetamol!

The issue as I understand it was less about the wait than the attitude.

The ambulance then took her to the nearest hospital with no emergency surgery facility and no orthopaedic specialists on site. The wrist was reduced and she was then transferred to another hospital for surgery after 20 hours in total. The other hospital would have taken 4/5 minutes longer and overall would have been cheaper and a better use of resources but them's the rules.

The system is a shit show.

Ive called for an ambulance twice in the last 6 weeks, both times 2am for injured drunks, arrived in 15 minutes in one case, an hour in the other.
but what a waste of the Services

There are not fewer ambulances available, it’s just way too many people calling for one, when lots of them are not an actual emergency and could easily drive/taxi to A&E, or go to a walk in clinic. In the last couple of years we’ve experienced everything from 5 minutes to 4 hours (all actual emergencies).

My ex’s mum called an ambulance for a broken finger. Yup, that’s right. No wonder the NHS is on its knees