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?

It may be area to area or just luck at who gets an ambulance!
my dad suffered a heart attack and the ambulance arrived within 5 minutes and the ambulance staff were fantastic, another family member phoned for a ambulance saying he thinks he’s having a heart attack, the operator decided the best thing for my family member was to phone and make a GP appointment, within 20minutes they had passed away. This is recently.

In November I called 111 and they requested an ambulance for me. It arrived within 10 minutes, they arranged for me to bypass A&E which was flooded with people with Flu and I went straight to a surgical assessment ward, I was lucky and grateful.

But sadly there are lots of people who know ring 999 for less important things (not including your or people with flu here), and its needs to stop. Ambulances have to triage the calls they have coming in and they are inundated.

Terrible that it's come to this.
I share a house with another girl who called the ambulance because she was suicidal and had cut her wrists.
The response from the professionals was quite horrible and they legitimately shamed her and treated her like a naughty child by dismissing her fears and situation.
It was a cry for help from her that I resonated with, and the crew literally admonished her for keeping a razor in her room and did not listen to her.
I hope I never need to call them with the same issue.

A couple of years ago in ruralish west wales, it was 13 hrs for an ambulance for my dad with a heart attack..... we didn't have a car and there are no taxis. Thankfully it was a "mild" one and he survived but....

DB was seriously ill last week - early 40s, lost use of one side of body plus extreme head pain. Told ambulance would be 2 hours so DS took DB and DSiL to local A&E herself.

My baby decided to start crowning when I was home in the bath (6 years ago to this day infact) and an ambulance came sharpish. It was a very busy night too the ambulance was from 20 miles away but was in the area and was on the way back to their area when they had a code 1 for me, so turned back around to deliver my baby 😅

I'm a paediatric first aider and on my refresher training last year we were told if at all possible transfer to hospital ourselves as the wait. We are lucky to live in a city 10 mins from the hospital.
I'm this shows how much things have changed recently as I've only have to dial 999 twice.
Once 8 years ago while a pupil was having a seizure (no known seizure disorder), came very, very quickly. It was too crazy to check but felt very fast and once 4 years ago when the GP rang when he saw my child. He was out straight on oxygen and ambulance called. Came within 10 mins.

A lot of the long waits can be due to ambulances queuing outside hospitals with their patients on board because there is no room in A/E for them .
Our local hospital has 400 beds and one third of those beds are taken up with long stay patients that are waiting for social services to ha ve them discharged into either nursing homes or to their own home with a care package .
The same situation is happening all over the country . Not only is the NHS short of money but so is Social Services .
If all the patients ready for discharge could be discharged right away then all the patients in A/E that need admitting could go to the wards , this would make room in A/E for the people waiting in the ambulances to go into A/E, thus freeing up the ambulances to do the job they are supposed to to .

Not surprised.
In the 5 times I have had to call ambulance in the past few years here is my experience:

• person had heart attack but was concious- ambulance came within 30 mins
• child had arm broken basically in two - wait was too long so we drove them
• child had all front teeth knocked clean out i sporting accident - no ambulance told to go to emergency dentist instead
• person had severe kidney pain to the point they were screaming - told to drive to a and e
• second person had heart attack and passed out - ambulance came in 15 mins

It seems they do prioritise and keep the ambulance service for the most severe life or death cicumstances. Its just luck of the draw if you call when they are busy and other people get placed before you.
If you can move the person and they can get in a car then its better to drive them.

My friend (a paramedic) was off duty one day, and witnessed a cyclist being hit by a coach. “Luckily”, the coach was going slowly, but the cyclist was unable to be moved. My friend stayed with him. The ambulance took so long to come, he had to be treated for hypothermia, as well as his injuries. My friend was also very cold.

The reports you hear are awful. Ambulances queued up outside A&E waiting for patients to be admitted, so they are stuck.

Saying that it is not completely 'new'. Before Covid a relative had a RTA and was badly injured. I arrived there in my car and was advised by police, if you can get x in the car and take them to A&E, that will be much quicker, as the ambulance will be a few hours.

I dread any family or I needing an ambulance, in a situation where we can't drive.

Only two examples I have in last three years, one was 10mins with a paramedic arriving first followed by an ambulance crew couple minutes later, and last May I fell in garden badly braking my wrist , the ambulance was around 20 minutes
no complaints at the hospital either fast efficient service…don’t know how it’s fairing just now though …

PS We live in Kent UK

Ours get parked up with a patient waiting when there is no strike..last time I was taken in, I was the first pick up of the shift and the shift ended while I was still in the ambulance in a queue, 8 hours. They shuffled me into an ambulance that had just come in empty. To wait further. 4 ambulances waiting at that point. I was told there were a dozen waiting at the biggest hospital. My aged MiL needed an an ambulance when she took unwell in the care home..over 24 hours later, still no ambulance. I had 3vstokes, one at home, one inthe ambulance some hours later and a third in cubicles, where I’d been taken in ..but it was 4 hours in cubicles before anyone turned up to help me. A total of 8 hours after my first stroke. If it had been a bleed, I’d be dead. As it was, I lost my left side. Even an aspirin or some apixaban might have been enough to break enough of the clot off to get it moving and let me get back to normal before long term damage was done.

As someone said most likely area amd time dependent as especially with children they do try to get there quicker. It's varied where I live, but generally within the hour. There is also a fantastic service where nurses come out as soon as possible to assess the need for an ambulance.

I'm in Ireland so don't know the NHS through experience. But everything I heard and saw growing up in regards to it was that it was a great service and ye didn't have long wait times etc like we do here. Whatever has happened to ye as a country the last 10-15 years I, with all sincerity and care, say please try and reverse it. Your health care system is starting to sound like ours, and while we don't have the extortionate fees of some countries eg US, many die in our system while waiting years to get seen.

Same here. Elderly (96 yo) mother had a fall at home. Took about 90 mins for ambulance to arrive - and it wasn't a busy time of day, 9:30 am.
The crew were wonderful once they did arrive.

What's shocking is that there's no public outcry about the appalling state of our ambulance service - we're all starting to accept it as "normal".

I was surprised four months ago when my 80-year-old mum couldn't get an ambulance for classic stroke symptoms. She was told none were available and that she should get a taxi, but she's rural and couldn't get one to come. I live abroad and my brother couldn't help. She eventually got an ambulance the next morning. She was too late for clot busting drugs, suffered stroke extension in hospital and died six weeks later after two more strokes, the last catastrophic. I'm afraid I will always wonder if there could have been a different outcome.

Depends where you live OP. I have relatives also in Yorkshire and one had a stroke, ambulance arrived in 15 mins. Infact for multiple family members there the response has been very quick.
However in Wales it is a shambles and quite frankly terrifying. Also note that the NHS in Wales have been run by Labour for a long time. I've known of people ringing after a stroke/heart attack and being told to find their own way as its a 12 hour wait for an ambulance. Someone with a broken hip left on the ground outside for 6 hours. My 78 yo mum had an infection post cancer surgery and was very ill, told to take a taxi to the hospital and then made to sit in a chair for 1.5days waiting for a bed.
The biggest problem causing these issues in South Wales are

• bed blockers - patients queued in ambulances for hours because there's no bed available- alot of bed blockers not released because they're waiting on social care provision
• closure of local hospitals - and all surrounding a&e patients filtered to 1 main hospital that can't cope - local hospital was 5 mins away and now nearest one is 30 mins.

-inability to get a GP appt - not uncommon to be told its 1 week wait just for a telephone GP appt. People often feel they have no choice but to go to a&e/call an ambulance as they've been unable to see a GP.

Anyone that can still defend the indefensible is bonkers. NHS is not fit for purpose. My mum was a nurse for 40+ years and thank God she was as she was able to advocate for herself post cancer surgery because the level of care and standard has seriously declined- alot of non English speaking nurses on the ward when my mum was there, alot of mistakes and negligence.

I'm in Switzerland and I've called an ambulance once when my son had croup as a baby. They came out within 5 minutes. Every time I've been to a&e I'm seen within an hour. But we have to pay for healthcare but to be honest I would rather pay for something that works and gives me a greater chance of living!

Interestingly, when I’ve had an uncontrolled asthma attack, I’ve always got my husband to drop me off at a&e and I’ve been seen straight away. The gp afterwards said I should have called an ambulance, saying the ambulance would have been able to treat me at home. I asked which cost the nhs less, ambulance off the road treating me, or my getting myself to hospital and being treated there, thus not taking an ambulance away from someone who needed it and couldn’t get to hospital another way. He couldn’t answer, the hospital staff couldn’t answer when I asked them (when I could breathe again and talk)! I’m now on montelukast daily tablet and my lungs have never been better! I didn’t realise how bad they were before on normal day to day until I went on the montelukast!! Highly recommend it.

Consultants are covering for Junior doctors . Impact is minimal

I'm not surprised. The NHS is on its knees. DD2 had blood in her urine and pain yesterday evening. On the NHS website it says phone 111 or make an urgent GP appointment for this. She phoned 111 at 10pm. A call handler person called her (and woke her up) at 5am today simply to tell her she was still on the waiting list and a doctor would call. She got the same call again at lunchtime. Finally a doctor called at 4pm and told her to go to Urgent Care. So an 18 hour wait for no help at all.

I'm really annoyed at how the resident doctors are being treated. The government is making put it is all about money. A big part of their issue is that we have a shortage of doctors, yet when they graduate from university there are far more graduates than graduate jobs. So a significant proportion of the doctors we have paid to train and desperately need are forced to work abroad or go into another career (banking?!. What a ridiculous waste:

Really hope your daughter is completely better soon

Sadly they are all parked at hospitals trying to offload patients. The health care system is on its knees.

111 can be very helpful: on one occasion when I was away from home with a UTI they got a doctor to call me, he prescribed antibiotics from a local pharmacy. However everyone I know has said that they've usually been told to go to A&E. Once they called an ambulance to me which took more than three hours, they assessed me and said I needed to go to hospital. They could take me but suggested that I take myself to A&E as it would be quicker. I could have done that three hours earlier.