To Think They should have sent an ambulance

[waxmytash]

I work in a large teaching Hospital and got the bus after work today along with myself there were 6 other passengers.

Approaching the city center & journeys end the young Guy in front of suddenly vomitted, fell off his seat into the asile,another passenger went to his aid as the bus driver pulled over.

Poorly Bloke was clearly not well and couldn't at that point speak. I telephoned 999 and explained the situation as he drifted in and out of consciousness ( he was breathing ok)
I tried asking him his name etc and all he could manage to say was "ID in bag" I looked in his bag (got covered in puke)and found a staff ID badge so it quickly became apparent that he'd just finished work at the hospital and not had too much to drink etc.
Poor bloke was showing no signs of recovery but did manage to answer when I asked his date of birth.
999 operator asked "where's his injury ?" I explained I couldn't see any obvious ones but he was wedged between rows of seats, at that point she proceeded to tell me that as he was 'responsive' ie able to tell me his DOB he was to go to his own GP or walk in center.

I quite clearly explained that a) he was lying on a bus floor b) looked very unwell c) was covered in vomit d) was probably unable to actually stand up without collapsing again. I made it quite clear that he'd obviously not been drinking and had just finished work. Again I was told she would not dispatch an ambulance and that she would now be terminating the call.

Bus driver contemplated taking him to A&E himself just as a Police van happened to pull up alongside, Police came to assist and agreed he needed an ambulance, luckily they had more success than I did and he duly dispatched to A & E.

I know that the NHS is on its knees ( I bloody work for them) and he wasn't in a life threatening condition, but surely common sense says that if a random member of the public is concerned enough to dial 999 for a complete stranger,laying unable to move on a bus floor,clearly unwell then perhaps they should have indeed sent an ambulance or at least a solo paramedic.

My friends 3 year old nephew was visiting, he fell off the trampoline and cracked his skull, she said she never saw so much blood. They called the ambulance, waited patiently for 2 hours, called back, was told "it will be there soon", another hour, no show, and when they called again were told "no, sorry, we have none to send." They had to take him himself, with a fractured skull, and damage to his neck. 3 years old!

I'm a little shocked by this. In Australia if you call for an ambulance it comes. I know we have had issues where people will call for things like a stubbed toe. Longest I have ever waited would be maybe 20 minutes. It's obviously not perfect in regional areas. There have been a few issues where an ambulance didn't arrive etc. I could call an ambulance right now and say I have bad stomach pain and vomiting and one will arrive.

Hillingdon if our local A&E department is anything to go by, all the ambulances are waiting there to get their patients seen

funvchum unfortunately blood, sweat and tea is as true today as it was when it was released, in a lot of cases it's probably worse

My sister almost died when an ambulance was cancelled by someone for no reason at all other than 'well we were busy so I needed to cancel someone'.

The ambulance had been called by a gp who made a house call and realised my sister was seriously ill. The gp then left, happy an ambulance was minutes away, which was bad enough. So then no ambulance, no gp, dying sister.

Instead of blue lights and resuscitation, they didn't even call back to say they weren't coming. Fuckers.

My father ended up driving her to hospital whilst my mother did mouth to mouth in the back.

My sister arrested three times that night, and they worked on her for hours. They asked my parents if they could stop. Fucking glad they refused. Can you imagine how my parents felt at that moment? Oh sorry we couldn't be arsed to send an ambulance but now we re going to give up on her again. How many ways can you show that a persons life has no value?

After 15 hrs of resus and surgery, my sister was then in a coma for weeks. She was never the same again.

We always trusted that an ambulance would come in an emergency. I no longer trust in that at all.

My dp called an ambulance because of horrendous pain in his stomach. The paramedics came, told him to see a gp... He insisted on hospital, they watched him lock up and walk to the ambulance where they then realised by his heart rate he was seriously ill and made him lie down very quickly. Turned out it was bowel cancer that had ruptured though his stomach wall.... If he hadnt insisted on hospital, he would have been dead that night...

Just want to add that his care once they realised was fantastic :)
He is still ill but as of yet we have had 11 extra months of life...

I was in a car accident when I was 18, a nasty one on a national speed limit road. They refused to send an ambulance because the driver and I could both walk and it was Sunday . I ended up being signed of work for nearly 2 months with severe whiplash and cracked ribs.

At home I began bleeding so badly after my c-section I was unable to get off the toilet without gushing. I was terrified and woozy from blood loss but got DH to drive me to the hospital. Once I got there they asked if I'd made my own way in or called an ambulance. To be honest it never occurred to me. I basically wore 2 pairs of pants with layers and layers of padding and a maternity mat on the car seat. But on reflection bearing in mind I gushed when I walked I could have done with arriving lying down to reduce the huge blood loss.

The spurious reasons people phone ambulances really get my goat. I read a fab blog by an ambulance dispatcher and it was terrible to read what wastage is in the system. I really feel for those whose lives are ruined by a bad judgment on what is/isn't urgent or by time wasters taking up capacity.

I thought if you ask for an ambulance they have to send one? Or is that a bygone thing now?

This thread is really quite scary. I had no idea things were as bad as this. (Have also read Blood Sweat and Tea, and some of the waste of time calls in there made me ).

MermaidHair The difference with Australian ambulances and UK ones is that , in Australia, if you aren't of a significant enough priority you pay for it!

I would be quite happy to pay for an ambulance rather than be left in pain or to potentially die. Sadly we aren't given that option, cuts are made and the service is on the bones of it's arse. It's scary how much the ambulance service has been cut.

There have been cuts everywhere. Perhaps ambulances are waiting at A&E to leave their patients who can't be received because there's not enough beds or staff as they've been cut too.

Dm was semi conscious and talking nonsense. Lady on the phone advised us to ring gp. Ok tried that gp says up to 6 hour wait for home visit.
Rang back emergency number to say that it's not looking good can we please have someone out to look at her. "you do realise ambulances are for emergencies, goodbye. " bitch.
Anyway gp turns up six hours later takes one look and says "looks like a stroke, we might be too late." yep massive stroke .
Do they have a fucking tooth pulled everytime they send one out?

I went to A&E for something in England a few years ago when living there. Waited a few hours which was fine, it wasn't life threatening but doc had advised I go cos couldn't get an appointment for a week and he would probably just send me for xray anyway (it was pain in hand that wasn't going away with paracetamol etc). Anyways, I didn't mind waiting, wasn't complaining. Not true for a woman who came in with her son, Sat for ten minutes, complained loudly to other patients, then went to the desk to ask how fucking long was it going to be, she'd got an ambulance here and shouldn't have to fucking wait, didn't have time to fucking waste, needed a fag and said if she wasn't getting seen in the next ten minutes, she was leaving cos her son wanted some fucking Mack nuggets. The receptionist pointed out how she shouldn't leave if she'd called an ambulance, but leave she did, 5 minutes later. I've never been so sickened in my entire life. I don't know if she got billed for it later but I doubt she would have paid even if so.

That particular story is one of the pushes to get out of London/England and move somewhere better. I now live in a country where I pay for each doctor visit and get a bill for each hospital visit.... but I also pay 6€ a month to an insurance company (mandatory) who gives me back the majority of the bill as soon as I go in (last docs visit, charged 15, got back 14.52 same day - is also good to save up doctors receipts and feel like you're getting a bonus - got over 100€ last time I went, pregnant so lots of docs visits) great thing about insurance payment too, you're covered for dental, get a payment just for being pregnant, like a gift - over 1000€, not just a tenner or owt.... It's pretty incredible.

Am sure if UK adopted it though, they'd turn it into some money making scheme.

The whole of the NHS is systematically being financially strangled so the government can say it is failing and people will start saying things like "I would be quite happy to pay for..." and they can privatise so those with the power can run it for profit.

When you look at the international figures our health service is comparatively very badly funded, it gets even less from the tax system than countries that have significant private insurance on top.

I think one of the problems is that they have key words and computer programmes and if you say them they try and send one (necessary or not) and if you don't they don't.

So on the other side dh needed to see an ooh doctor because of his asthma a couple of months ago and obviously mentioned his breathing as this is part of it. He was then on the phone for 5 minutes reassuring them begging them not to send an ambulance that it wasn't that bad....

How lucky you are that you can afford to pay for the insurance and the initial outlay for treatment then, Jabbsy

There are two reasons why it takes so long to get an ambulance. One is that they are all queuing at A&E 2nd people who insist on being ferried by the big yellow taxi, even though the highly trained crew have told them a hospital visit is unnecessary. Asking relatives Do you have a car to take him, or can you get a taxi. The reply is no I don't want to do that, he will get seen quicker if he goes in an ambulance. NO HE WONT.

The whole of the NHS is systematically being financially strangled so the government can say it is failing and people will start saying things like "I would be quite happy to pay for..." and they can privatise so those with the power can run it for profit.

This is exactly what is going on, austerity is being used as an excuse to push through their idealism. Child poverty increases, no problemo, we'll just "redefine" child poverty.

I posted on here about this. My friend called an ambulance for me when I was breathless and coughing up blood (later turned out to be a pulmonary embolism)

They wouldn't send one. I was supposed to go to a walk in centre in the morning if I didn't improve. She was really terse and told my friend I was probably having a nosebleed and was anxious about it, hence the shortness of breath. I took a taxi to the hospital where I was admitted as I was seriously ill.

I did complain- it took three months to get a reply. It's not a particularly satisfactory one. They basically just outline their usual procedures and say that resources are overstretched.

I think this poor guy needed an ambulance! I have no idea who all the ambulances are being sent to.

An Ambulance is needed if there is the chance you will need medical assostance en route to a hospital. A broken limb does not warrant an ambulance. A taxi will suffice.

I'm abroad too and because if my health insurance (it's a company one, not local to this country) I have to pay each medical Bill and then submit invoices and I get reimbursed (unless it's for surgery or something massive). I called an ambulance and after going through a long questionnaire to establish I needed one, an ambulance was sent.it was a "level 2" or something which means emergency, but I'm probably not about to die.

Anyway, I'm saying saying all that because on the invoice it detailed the type of ambulance (different types for different emergency levels), the distance travelled from call out to me arriving at hospital (about 15 miles). It was about £480. I was so surprised that it cost so much (and this country has a fairly similar system to the UK). I think many people just don't understand what things actually cost - they're not free!

And OP should have had an ambulance.