to think this was ludicrous abuse of the emergency services

[LifeIsButtercream]

Ok, Disclaimer - there may have been underlying medical issues but I personally didn't see any evidence of them in this situation.

I was at the park with DD (2), when another two mothers arrived, each with a child I'm guessing 3ish in age. They park their buggies up at a bench a few metres away from me. DD is running about in shorts, trips up and skins her knee, nothing drastic, I'm cleaning and patching her up and comforting her when this happens:

Child of one of the mothers falls over and grazes her face, I think from what I saw it was her bottom lip, the mother picks her up and literally screams into her face, then brings her over to their bench in a slight flap and says to her friend: "Euergh, I can't deal with blood it makes me feel sick", the other agrees and says she can't either, the childs mother hands a tissue to her bleeding daughter and gets up to make a phone call. I pause in patching DD and come over to see if I can help. The other mother waves me away and says that her friend is 'calling someone'.

She was calling......... an AMBULANCE

Meanwhile her daughter had stopped crying (she wasn't very distressed) and was calmly sitting with her tissue on her mouth. The mother finishes on the phone and talks to her friend about how she can't bear to look at her child with blood on them and 'the paramedics will deal with her'. She then has a few fags to calm her nerves.

My DD at this point runs off and I have to go after her, but a lot of me wanted to offer to take a look at their daughter (I'm a first aider) and if needed patch her up incase she doesnt really need an ambulance (can you cancel an ambulance?) but I have to catch up with DD.

A few minutes later an ambulance arrives and ferries both mothers and their children away.

AIBU in thinking this wasn't really an ambulance-requiring situation? I've never had to call one so I don't know, and for all I know there could be medical conditions that would make a small cut into a dangerous situation, but it didn't seem that way!

Oh, and yes, I know I should mind my own business......

If they request to be taken to A+E then the paramedics have to take them unfortunately. I worked in A+E for 4 years and saw so much abuse of the system. People would be on a night out in the next town 8 miles away, call an ambulance for whatever reason then disappear once they were in the waiting area. You'd look at their address which would be local to the hospital. Free ride home.

Also had someone call an ambulance from their house DIRECTLY opposite A+E because they stubbed their toe, fully weight bearing, no bruising, deformity or bony tenderness.

YANBU but you could be. the child could have blood clotting issues or addison's which you would never tell by just looking. my sister has addisons and can't even have a blood test without an iv of hydra cortisone otherwise her body will go into shock. (that was one to find out, she was in hospital and they took blood and within minutes the crash cart had to come out) however if there was an underlying condition i would imagine the mother being much more panicky.

When I was near the end of my pregnancy I had really high blood pressure and had to go in an ambulance. I felt absolutely fine, looked fine but felt a right bell end getting into an ambulance. Best bit was when they wheeled me from the exam room onto the ward in a wheelchair & I had to get up 2 minutes later and walk off to go for a wee.

haha baberuthless that happened to me with preeclampsia - i went to the doctor thinking i had a chest infection she went crazy as soon as she did my blood pressure and wanted to call an ambulance i was convinced she was overreacting as i felt totally fine and i though i would be wasting peoples time, i refused and got the bus only to have about 5 people descend on me the moment i walked through the door and whisk me straight to the labour ward - i wore my shocked face the whole time. When i think back i realise how foolish i was to ignore medical advice like that!

I get frustrated with the lack of understanding of triage and ignorance about the seriousness of some injuries compared to others.

I had to take my husband to A&E when he spilt something noxious on his fingers in his lab. They were aware he was on his way and took him straight in when he arrived. The fact that he was happily walking along with just a wet cloth around his hand and no gushing blood sent the some of the horde in the waiting area crazy.

Kalddkaka - I took Ds to a and e when he was 12 months with a bad asthma attack due to a chest infection we were taken straight through for oxygen to be given. One mother complained to the nurse with us it wasn't fair her son had to wait with a sore ankle for 2 hours and others got to go straight in!

Sounds totally daft to me, I would like to think there was some underlying problem but OH cousin works on the 999 line so has some cracking stories.....

I have never called an ambulance, but I did call NHS Direct for OH at Christmas - we'd both been ill with coldy/fluey type symptoms, I was mostly ok though. He got up one night a collapsed, called them and they sent an ambulance. Dopey bugger then WALKED home from A&E after they discharged him - in the snow, no coat or socks because he 'didn't want to wait for a cab'. I was livid.

I'm pregnant and due in October. Was induced with the last pregnancy and do wonder what I'll do when I go into labour - my plan at the moment is to call a cab when I need to go, as we don't have a car or anyone close that can drive us. Hate the idea of wasting peoples time!

Kveta They have to. They'd have been in so much legal trouble if they hadn't :(

But they wouldn't have let the other mother and child get in the ambulance...

PoweredbyPepsi - So weird isn't it? All the medical staff kept giving me concerned looks all the time. My sisters a midwife & she went nuts when she found out how blasé I was about it all. Now I've had a kid I'm much more cautious, but at the time I was all "bah! I'm fine!"