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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

To think some people waste the ambulance service time

237 replies

hannah1992 · 25/07/2017 07:37

So last night I drove my dd who's 19 months to the out of hours doctor which is located at our hospital. You have to wait at a&e reception and speak to reception etc. Anyway three ambulances came in and obviously they get first priority in booking people in. We had been waiting in line for 25 minutes while these ambulances were sorted and my dd was screaming the whole time (she has an ear infection). In the three ambulances was a man that was sent to the gp part so didn't even need a hospital doctor. Another had a teenage boy and his mum. He had a bandage around his hand/wrist BUT his dad had followed the ambulance in the car. He was walking around didn't seem to be in very much pain aibu in the fact that his dad had drove behind the ambulance, why couldn't he have just drove him in the car?

I was just stood there thinking the ambulance certainly in my area (not sure about others) are very stretched and people should stop calling ambulances when a) they can go to hospital in the car ie: it's not a life threatening emergency and let the ambulance service deal with people who are seriously ill. I just kept thinking while they have been dealing with someone who needed a gp rather than the hospital and someone who's parents could have drove him to hospital somebody could have been dying of a heart attack.

OP posts:
jmh740 · 25/07/2017 12:19

I rang 111 because my husband who has a MS was having chest pains. They sent a paramedic just in a car who stayed and treated him at home and also radioed for an ambulance to come. I was asked to follow in the car rather than go with him in the ambulance so it would have looked like I could have driven him in? He didn't get priority over walk ins he was booked in and the ambulance left. He got to A&E at 8pm and was seen in triage about 11pm he did not see a doctor until 7am he was not put in a room he had a trolley in the corridor until he was seen in triage and then was seated in a recliner chair in a waiting room until he saw the doctor. The next day at home he had the chest pains again I rang 111 for advice and they sent an ambulance again. Again we had a lengthy wait he wasn't a priority because he was taken in by ambulance and I was again asked to follow in the car.

AwaywiththePixies27 · 25/07/2017 12:20

Was waiting in a walk in centre with pharyngitis once. (wouldn't wish it on my worst enemy).

An ambulance brought a lady in who kept saying she didn't want to make a fuss and she felt fine about from a bit fluey but it's summer so she couldn't possibly have it.

Triagex ahead of me and she got transferred back over to the hospital and admitted to the ward with Sepsis.

Thankfully they caught it early.

So yes YABU in the sense that you don't know why these people are going in ahead of you or any underlying health conditions. I was sitting up and talking when I was taken into resus (was on some good medicine) I still needed critical care treatment. I'm sure people looked at me and thought the ambulance made me jump the queue too.

YNBU to think some abuse the ambulance service but they're very few and far between.

Ollivander84 · 25/07/2017 12:32

I wouldn't say they're few... I think it's something like 30% are actually emergencies

ireallydontlikefootball · 25/07/2017 12:36

Ambulances don't get priority. I know this because I came in by ambulance and I ended up waiting in a corridor for hours because they thought I was just having a weird migraine & just needed to sleep it off. Turns out my brain was slowly being starved of oxygen thanks to a blood clot in my brain which caused me to have a stroke. I was icu forever once I was finally examined by a doctor.
So you see it can look like non serious problem but actually is very serious indeed.

hannah1992 · 25/07/2017 12:53

As I have said in my previous posts. There is one reception for both a&e and out of hours gp. I did not take my child to a&e I took her to out of hours gp! It's just that they share a reception! And in our hospitals they always deal with ambulances that come in first before anyone waiting in the queue

OP posts:
hannah1992 · 25/07/2017 12:56

And i wasn't pissed off at the fact ambulances were in front so they should be when it's an actual emergency! The two people in referring to didn't have an emergency that required an ambulance. Ambulances are for life threatening or serious injuries/health reasons not for a surface burn or something that required a gp!

OP posts:
hannah1992 · 25/07/2017 12:57

So it's a misuse of the ambulance service I was saying about not who is seen first

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gamerchick · 25/07/2017 13:50

I know that's why I said a&e waiting room. other people weren't to know why you were there or how you got there.

You could even go so far to say you didn't need to be there at all it could have waited until next day and seen your regular gp.

It's all assuming right from the start of this thread.

RudeDog · 25/07/2017 14:02

I know someone who recently went by ambulance to hospital because her daughter had a fever - then kept posting sad pictures of daughter waiting in a&e and how dreadful the service was and how terrible the NHS was.
Was sent home as nothing wrong with child and then complained on Facebook she had to get a taxi. Child went to school next morning. Confused

SheepyFun · 25/07/2017 14:08

Sometimes paramedics will advise an accompanying person to follow in a car, especially if the hospital is some distance - I ended up in A&E on holiday once (possibly heart attack, thankfully a false alarm), and the paramedics even asked DH about how powerful our car was, so I presume I was blue lighted in. DH commented later that it was a pretty rapid journey.

When I had to call an ambulance for DH (he really did need it), the paramedic who arrived first explained that he had a scoring system to decide if DH needed to go to hospital - you needed to score 4 for him to radio for an ambulance; DH scored 7 (as the paramedic thought he had meningitis and DH couldn't walk, it was going to have to be an ambulance). Thankfully it wasn't meningitis, but DH still needed hospital treatment.

bananafanana1 · 25/07/2017 14:19

I recently called EPU as the telephone number was provided to me as I had a miscarriage. I was in serious pain in the night time. I called EPU and they wouldnt see me and TOLD me to go to A&E.

I thought this seemed ridiculous that the department that could help me were referring me to A&E.

I ended up going to A&E and then being booked into EPU. Weird.

hannah1992 · 25/07/2017 14:19

Yes follow in the car when someone could be having a heart attack it hardly compares to a minor burn though the parents didn't need an ambulance they could have just drove him there

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Dawndonnaagain · 25/07/2017 14:32

not for a surface burn or something that required a gp!
Again with the judging. Are you a medical expert? What do you know about EDS and surface burns, do tell, I'm fascinated...
Psoriasis too.

hannah1992 · 25/07/2017 14:35

Well if you'd put your hand on the cooker and burnt it would you call an ambulance? I've burnt myself on the cooker iron straighteners hundreds of times but never called an ambulance and the paramedic said family requested the hospital so obviously wasn't advised they needed to go by ambulance, they could have gone in the car. The other guy was told to go to see the gp so obviously he didn't need an ambulance either!

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Ollivander84 · 25/07/2017 14:38

There's a big difference between needing an ambulance and needing hospital
I burnt my hand badly. Didn't need an ambulance but needed hospital

Sirzy · 25/07/2017 14:39

Or the other guy was stabilised enough by the paramedics that he didn't need A and E but still needed checking.

You don't know anything about history, especially medical history of those involved. You weren't the medic treating them. Therefore you aren't in a position to judge need.

Dawndonnaagain · 25/07/2017 14:39

If my dd put her hand on the cooker (she's 20) then yes I'd call an ambulance. As I said, what do you know about that sort of injury and EDS?

Ollivander84 · 25/07/2017 14:41

Dawn - but could you not drive or get a lift or use a taxi?

Sirzy · 25/07/2017 14:42

Presumably Dawn knows more about her daughters needs than Internet "experts"

Dawndonnaagain · 25/07/2017 14:43

Ollivander not in her particular circumstances no. It would be dangerous, what may be a minor burn to others could cause severe and lasting damage to dd, it needs to be treated and damage minimised as soon as possible. To Drive from here to the nearest hospital would take me around 40 minutes by which time damage could be irreparable.

Ollivander84 · 25/07/2017 14:44

I didn't say internet expert but it's stuff I deal with every day. If it's not classed as an emergency it can be up to 4hrs

BoysofMelody · 25/07/2017 14:55

The NHS is in trouble and it is people's sense of entitlement that is going to kill it

No, that'd be the Tories underfunding it and selling bits of it to their mates.

hannah1992 · 25/07/2017 15:16

I just think people need to learn the difference between an emergency which is what the ambulance service is for and something that can either be treated by a gp walk in centre or by taking yourself to the hospital

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Dawndonnaagain · 25/07/2017 15:23

I think to some extent you're right hannah, but you are not the person to judge that. You have been given lots of examples of situations whereby things are not what they seem on the surface. Yes of course people misuse the ambulance service, we all know that and it's frustrating, but you cannot make that judgement call unless you are the professional involved with the case, there and then.

Sirzy · 25/07/2017 15:26

And some people need to learn that an overheard snippet doesn't equate to having someone's full medical history.

I have explicit instructions not to take DS to the GP/OOH for things that in normal circumstances you would. But as someone earwigging at reception there is no way you would know that.

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