To be pissed off with even a discussion about calling 999 in a non emergency.

[Buddhagirl]

There is a serious problem in this country with people calling 999 or going to A&E for medical problems that can be sorted by non emergency services.

It really really annoys me. There should be no debate. The nhs is overstretched, ring nhs direct, call your gp, go to a pharmacy, go to a drop in clinic. If it is serious drive to casualty, if it's life threatening call an ambulance. AIBU to expect people to do this and respect the nhs?

I am with you in principle, some people do seem to use an ambulance as a taxi. However the thread you were reffering to an ambulance would have been justified.

I have been told off in the past for not calling an ambulance for DS, but the time we did we waited 20 minutes for the ambulance and it only takes 10 minutes to drive him there!

It does wind me up when we are sat in A and E and an ambulance comes in with a child who has twisted their ankle or some other stupid thing as its things like that which are the reason that response times are sometimes too long.

Velvet you did te right thing calling an ambulance in your situation, you were tod to call one by the hospital not a taxi. Life is unoreductable so are babies and people, like there's have saud lst of taxi firms won't take women in about especially if tey are on ther own

Meant labour especially if your on your own

This just appeared on my twitter, some interesting statistics in it (its a v short video)
www.nwas.nhs.uk/our-services/calling-999/theres-more-to-calling-999

i think there should be a better call centre operating the calls if it's the dialling 999 that's the problem.
There should be doctors on call to answer any questions.

You don't automatically get sent an ambulance, and it should be done on a basis of how bad it sounds when you ring.
so, kind of like NHS direct with an ambulance service in there.

I think that would make more sense than splitting the two.
anyone that sounds like an ambulance requiring emergency would get put through to the emergency section and everyone else would be dealt with like triage.

YADNBU.

Drives me mad the unbelievable reasons people give when calling ambulances. But then when you still have thousands of fuckwits trotting off to their doctors looking for antibiotics to cure a virus what do you expect .

I agree tee we should all consult mumsnet before calling 999 .

Unique - but that's what happens (in theory)
Ring 999 and you will get triaged and you can be referred to a clinical advisor/senior paramedic/111/ooh GP
Ring 111 and you get triaged (because people do ring 111 for v serious things) and they will give advice, refer to ooh, advise to make own way to hospital, or pass through to ambulance

No piglet, some people could do with consulting their brains before dialling 999 though .

EMUZ - well, that was the theory.
now everyone's told to ring NHS Direct, who have no links with the ambulance service at all (it seems - i've no idea whether they're meant to)

999 is the number ,memorized since the service began.
111 is just another number or people to forget or not realize even exists :)

Obviously there are some idiots who make crank an stupid cals for 999 but I would think the majority of us would be responsible and call 999 in a genuine serious r life threatening emergecy

Unique - nhsd do have links too, they can pass calls through that need ambulances, they can book non urgent ambulances and 999 can pass calls to them
I don't know how heavily 111 has been publicised in other areas but here it has, people have had flyers through, there's posters in hospitals, doctors surgeries etc etc
At the moment (well here anyway) you can ring either but eventually 111 will take over

Sorry should have also said part of the reason 111 helps is because it's a free number. People will ring 999 and not nhsd because they have no credit so 111 better option

I fell down the stairs on boxing day (3 years ago),I dislocated my ankle and broke my leg in 3 places. This wasn't life threatening but my mum called an ambulance and luckily the paramedic was qualified to put my ankle back (with morphine) and strapped my leg. I cannot imagine the agony of going by car to a&e 25 mins drive away without all this. And the quick action of paramedic reduced long term damage.

So did my mum do the right thing. After all, my life wasn't in danger.

The most stupid use of 999 for an ambulance ever?

I give you:

The Police, whom I had called to my home in order to remove a former boyfriend who had lain down in my hallway shouting and refusing to move. The Police called an ambulance.

He must have scarpered from the hospital unloading bay pretty sharpish because I got a text within half an hour from a friend saying he had turned up in the pub where she was working.

Doctors get it wrong too you know. We had the OOH GP call an ambulance for tonsilitis ffs. DS was pretty poorly but I explicity said I didnt want an ambulance because they dont take wheelchairs. I said we'd go on the bus. Its tonsilitis, not ebola! She got very hoity, called an amulance, ds had to be carried onto the ambulance by the paramedics and left alone while I went on the bus with the chair. Naturally they all had to wait for me at A&E for an hour as none of them could sign and ds cannot speak. Sigh.

Velvet You had plans to get lifts if possible. I wasn't talking about people like you.

It would help if there was more information on what is an emergency, perhaps even a televised campaign.

I have called an ambulance 4 times in the past 20 years, all for what I consider genuine emergencies.

Two - DH's suspected heart attack and DS's anaphylactic shock syndrome - were definite, life-threatening, no-question emergencies.

The other two were my toddler DD's asthma attacks that were not responding to medication and I did worry about if I should have taken her in the car. The first aid training I've had is that any breathing difficulty in a young child requires an ambulance to administer emergency treatment. The ambulance crew confirmed it. I think a lot of people are confused, though.

No good lecturing people on wasting ambulance resources; teaching them when they should dial 999 is what's needed, I think.

I think in most cases common sense says when you need it. The problem isn't those who call with the best of intentions it is those who use it for truly stupid things whereby a little bit of thinking would sort, or the people who do use it as a taxi service.

I was in A and E with DS once and overheard a telephone conversation where someone said "I didn't want to pay for a taxi so I phoned for an ambulance" the same person complained about not being seen straight away because apparently people who come in by ambulance should be seen straight away, and complained my son did go straight through (2 year old asthmatic struggling to breathe!) Some people are just too stupid/self absorbed though and nothing will stop that!

Okay, what about non lifethreatening injuries, which can be made worse without proper handling?

Mmm?

I have dislocated my kneecap manybtimes, and for on three four occasions has required an ambulance as it has stuck out and I cannot be moved.

Twice paramedics put it back in, and I didn't need hospital; twice they refused to touch it as it was so bad, and safely took me to hospital where I had procedures under heavy medication.

So, am I a wastrel? I am sure all of us abhor wastefullness, but you are being very unreasonable to assume that if my illness or accident doesn't fit into your narrow categories then I am wasting resources.

Ps ambulance service we hapoy to have me, but did put me down the queue and I waited more than an hour - quite right too!

You may already know this but ambulance service is not one of the emergency services it is classed as an essential service (like gas electricity or water).

Good point you make there sirzy. Some people think they will be seen quicker if they arrive at A&E in an ambulance! Unless they need treatment in resus, they won't be. They will be triaged just like everyone else, and take their turn according to the urgency of their condition.

I should have called an ambulance on a couple of occasions, but didn't even think to tbh! To me, it is something for a dire emergency. My dd was very poorly as a baby - she had a very rare congenital heart defect that seriously impaired her breathing, but it took a lot of illness, hospital trips, appointments, stays in intensive care with a mere cold.....before it was diagnosed at 5 months - I twice sped to hospital in the middle of the night, when I should have called an ambulance (she was taken to resus on arrival both times as her sats were so low). I seem to be the opposite to the people being moaned about on this thread, but probably just as stupid! We only live 10 minutes away btw - maybe I'd have reacted differently if it were further?