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.

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

knowing that's how it is in this country, you put aside money to make sure you are always able to visit a doctor and if you get caught short, im sure they wouldnt turn you away. (only been here just under a year and it hasnt happened yet but it probably will one day).
hospital visits are billed later - and usually, employers offer private healthcare as part and parcel of a job so the bill goes to them first.

but really, the 6euro insurance is about 5gbp, thats less than ONE prescription in the UK.

Abandoned should read 'and'

I think I may have inadvertently used buzzwords to get an ambulance. I rang 111 with severe chest pains, threw up with the pain while they were on the phone to me, so they put me straight through to ambulance service, who turned up 10 minutes later. I was very grateful, but after chest X-rays in a&e, it turned out I had a chest infection, and wasn't having a heart attack, which I now realise must have been why they turned up.

I must say, I couldn't have got myself to hospital though, I was prostrate and vomiting.

YANBU OP, he needed an ambulance. Thank goodness you helped him.

Jabbsy, not the UK. Prescriptions are free in Scotland

I remember Christmas 2013... my 6 year old son woke me at 2:30 coughing and wheezing. He couldn't quite catch a breath at all and I actually at the time just assumed it was tonsilitis coming from the sound in his throat. But when I woke up properly a few minutes later I realised that he wasn't right.
He tried a sip of water, and choked, and I sat him on the couch with a blanket and called NHS 24.
DS had had bronchiolitis 2 years running as a baby, and remembering the docs telling me he could end up with asthma due to this I wanted to err on the side of caution.

The call handler asked me where he was, I said on the couch, he said is he upright? I answered, almost, he's half asleep and trying to lie down. They actually told me off and said if he lies down he's GOING to cough isn't he?!
All the while DS is wheezing and they want to speak to him to check he is ok... They had me drive him to out of hours, all the while me trying to keep myself calm, and getting him to breathe through is nose etc (This came from watching LOST!) and thankfully for us, the out of hours is only a 15 mins drive away.
When we got there he was assessed etc, his blood oxygen levels were low and he was given some form of steroids to try help his lungs. He was also given an inhaler a few times over the course of the 1.5 hours we were there.

They decided that his oxygen levels weren't improving enough to be confident he was ok so I then was sent with him... driving myself... to the nearest A&E which is some 15 miles away. At 4:30am. Worried sick and in no fit state to drive.

He was admitted to the childrens ward and given more inhalers. The consultant who finally came to see us a few hours later when he arrived on shift, informed me my son had croup, and had an asthmatic type reaction to it which closed his airways. Why wasn't an ambulance sent he asked?
I felt sick to my stomach when he said that his airways had all but closed and this was what caused the wheezing noise and coughing. And thought "what if I couldn't drive or had no money for a taxi?"

I totally get that resources are massively over stretched, have seen it for myself, people calling an ambulance cos their kid has twisted their ankle. How an ambulance actually gets dispatched for this I don't know :/

But in the OP, it seems serious common sense that the man was ill and needed urgent medical assistance :( I would love to see behind the scenes and see what the questions they need to ask point them to. And how the ultimate yes or no for ambulance is worked out.

Bloody hell youarerealbonkers, you really are mad. How did you conclude the person described had norovirus?!

Re-reading my post - I just want to reiterate I don't mean kids twisting ankles and obviously broken etc, I mean parents who have a kid who have literally just twisted it and are being over dramatic about it. I have seen this myself.

A couple of years back i took my ds age 6 to the out of hours dr, 40degrees +and with meds still not coming down, they though that he had appendicitis and told me to drive to the hospital as it would be quicker than waiting for an ambulance. I will never forget that drive, windows open to try to cool him down with the occasional glance in the rear view mirror seeing him go grey and slip into un conciousness. It turned out to be pneumonia and he was very ill but there just weren't any ambulances available. They are trying to wreck the nhs so we all say this is rubbish, i would gladly pay for an ambuance, gp etc it makes me furious people cannot see it

NHS Direct told me I had a back and neck injury from sleeping funny! I had meningococcal meningitis and almost died the next morning.

There is still a common misconception that being brought in by ambulance means you go to the front of the queue.

Having spent a fair bit of time in A & E over that last few years between myself and family, and being an ex-Nurse it was be quite amusing in a dark humour way to see the spluttering indignation when they are triaged and told to shift themselves out to the waiting area, and no coming in by ambulance doesn't mean they are seen first.

This includes seeing someone storm off after been told by the receptionist that she couldn't tell him when he would be seen, he'd been seen by the triage Nurse already, and he'd just have to wait, he storms off.

Half an hour later see him been wheeled in by ambulance crew, 10 minutes later he's been walked back to the waiting area by the triage Nurse, with him saying I told you a 2 day earache is not a medical emergency, you either wait till we have time to see you or you go to your GPs on Monday.

And sadly from experience that isn't that unusual. They're should be a way to fine people like that straight away. But like everything the piss takers will still find a way around it.

I had complications with my second pregnancy. somehow made it against expectations to practically full term but the baby was transverse.

I had an ECV which was successful and after monitoring all was fine so i was sent home with instructions to call an ambulance of my water broke/I went into labour. I repeat I was told by the person who performed the ecv to call

my water broke that night and I had felt dd move and was concerned shed turned back. or was at least half way to being turned back.

i called maternity ward and spoke to some snooty cow who wasn't the least but interested despite the complications I explained and te possibility dd had gone back to being transverse and I told her that I'd been told to call an ambulance. to which she responded she couldnt authorise that, they were for emergencies only and I should make my own way. called someone for a lift and literally minutes before they arrived I received a phone call from maternity ward saying they've looked at my notes and I should indeed call an ambulance. ..

Needless to say there was no point by then and I made my own way. I'm still not entirely sure why I was supposed to call one but I was only doing as I was told. maybe there were risks I wasn't aware of who knows.

Yanbu op they should have sent one if he was barely conscious

I think that we shouldn't be pussy footing arpund not daring to criticise anything about the NHS because it's free at point of service and we should just understand its creaking and over strained.

We need to complain, and loudly when things go wrong. It isn't acceptable that ambulances don't turn up or leave people dying. It just isn't.

The nhs needs a massive overhaul including an injection of cash to be spent on actual services and skilled staff vs management and process.

I would absolutely be willing to pay a bit more tax/ ni, and have a system that doesn't kill people.

By staying silent and makkng people feel guilty for conplaining, this is the way it will stultify and collapse. Makes me so cross when we're supposed to 'put up and shut up' or feel we're traitors to the NHS unless we accept sub standard, dangerous care.

I utterly agree.

Equally though we need to be celebrating the care that is exceeding expectations & is absolutely brilliant. There's a lot of it - but the people I work with are utterly worn down by the bashing from all sides (media, government, management, people who demand to be seen Right Now This Very Instance because they have a cold). There's amazing care being provided in unprecedented circumstances - be good to see that acknowledged too (not here necessarily where a lot of people have talked about good care, but in a wider sense).

A friend of mine has just started a private ambulance company, I think he and his business partners have seen the way the NHS is going, and decided it was a business opportunity.

I reckon it will be a case of those who can afford to swipe their credit/debit card at the end of the journey will get to hospital. The rest will have to die, take a taxi or wait several hours.

We need to complain, and loudly when things go wrong. It isn't acceptable that ambulances don't turn up or leave people dying. It just isn't.

How do you really complain to, and get heard, when you address a massive organisation. WHO is the NHS, though? Who cares? The people at the top will just shake their heads and blame the government and lack of funding. They most certainly dont care....

Did you explain that he hadn't given you his detail but that you had got them off his pass?

All these horror stories and people still wont give up the nhs. It doesn't work any more, it needs an overhaul. You are all paying for an utterly shit shit system.

The government isn't going to go from total nanny state to making everyone pay straight out. It will be tiered. People need to stop being afraid of a different system.

It can work.

Slipping in and out of consciousness is very definitely serious maybe he'd banged his head falling and was concussed? This is terrible, I would complain/someone needs to know about this. Another poor man in the news was mugged, had a broken leg FFS and the police had to take him to hospital as ambulance refused to come out last week.

What makes that worse as an attitude is that i stopped watching real life ambulance programmes as i got livid at every single episode, watching ambulances turning up to find the 'patient' in question happy/smiley and with a TINY cut/bump/bruise and a CAR parked in the drive , with a relative onsite able to drive. In such cases , to avoid waste of time/resource they should be allowed to tell people - sorry, you need walk in or A&E and CANCEL the call.

This is their regulatory (policy deciding) body: The Association of Ambulance Chief Executives (AACE). It "provides ambulance services with a central organisation that supports, coordinates and implements nationally agreed policy."

If more people knew about them/that and complained to them instead of just the Head of their local ambulance service maybe things wouldnt keep deteroriating? But them i am probably being naive. (sp?)

I agree miscellaneous but the care isn't always awful, it is often amazing but it's patchy, is down to luck and it depends what is wrong with you. Someone in my family had to call an ambulance recently in a dire emergency and the first responder was there in 2 minutes. It really irritates me when people are treated shoddily and then people trot out the 'nhs has limited resources' line. It also isn't just a case of chucking more money its a bottomless pit. Primary care needs sorting to reduce the stress on all areas, including gps.

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