To think this was a gross misuse of the emergency services

[retainertrainer]

DSis phoned me this morning. I missed the call as I was in work. I couldn’t talk but was able to send her a text asking if she was ok (she knew I was working so I thought something must be wrong for her to ring). She messed back saying she’d fallen down the stairs and couldn’t get up. I obviously called her straight back. She was crying but calmed down enough to explain that she’d actually missed the bottom step and landed at an awkward angle,her ankle was in a lot of pain. In the time it’d taken me to ring her back she’d also called 999 for an ambulance,her DP and our Dad (who lives a street away). By the end of our phone call her partner had arrived home and my Dad followed shortly.

The 3 of them then sat and waited 30 minutes for an ambulance. They all drive, 3 cars were at the house. No attempt made to get sis on her feet and into the car. They could have been to a&e themselves in 15! I understand she panicked when it first happened and for all she knew it could have been broken but for none of them to even attempt to get her on her feet and drive her themselves astounds me! Turns out it’s a bad sprain. I’m so cross with them all!

loveyour
There is a hell of a difference between somene losing consciousness and someone sitting chatting on the phone. Its not hard to see which one would require an ambulance!

'I'm surprised the ambulance came. They're rolling out new criteria so broken bones aren't included.'
@m0therofdragons it wasn't broken it was sprained....

'I am glad about the sepsis campaign for example- although has not come without it's issues. Now I do see significantly more patients who are convinced they (and colleagues have said similar re parents and their children) have sepsis, when they definitely don't. Because the signs and symptoms are not always straight forward, so it's understandable- but (and I can only speak for the local experience) this has led to demand for same day GP appointments/urgent hospital assessment which was not required. There's a balance, but overall the campaign was positive. Ultimately, I recognise that if people are worried, they'll want to be seen, but there are things that are obviously not urgent if you use even a modicum of common sense'

@jacks11 my baby was born with sepsis and even the staff didn't spot it and discharged him. Luckily myself and dh spotted something wasn't right in the nick of time and took him back in at 1 day old (we drove because it was a quicker than calling an ambulance.) Thank god the antibiotics worked and ds recovered; we were told one more hour and we wouldn't have been so lucky. With sepsis you have to act fact, you don't have time to ponder it. If we did than my baby wouldn't be alive today.

fast

They triage before the paramedics arrive as well. That’s why it sometimes goes wrong and someone waits 4 hours for a heart attack.

I have gone to hospital in a car with a bad break. Was told off for not calling an ambulance (apparently be blood supply to my arm was in danger?). Have had paramedics out to ds1 a lot over the last 18 months (4 x tonic clonic seizures before epilepsy dx - you get told to call an ambulance) and once when he whacked his head really hard on the floor. That paramedic was lovely - he had attended one of the tonic clonics and told me if ds1 ever needed stitches or anything to ask for a paramedic to save him having to cope with A&E and they would do it at home. Not sure how that would pan out at a busy time.

Also had one out when I landed on my back falling off a horse. I had decided I was probably fine by the time the paramedic arrived but no-one would let me move. Once he was here he moved me and checked me over. That was a false call - I didn’t need an ambulance, but had my back been broken (& my arse was numb for about 9 months after it - so I must have whacked it pretty hard) then obviously standing up may not have been wise.

I think calling the ambulance sounds fine, although it may have been wise to cancel it once they’d worked out she was basically okay. Not sure how easy it is to cancel though? Once they’ve established the patient is breathing they tend to ring off - only had people stay on the line for a couple of tonic clonics.

Actually I agree about first aid training on schools. Far more useful than the dreadful mess the curriculum is in at the moment. If people feel confident they’re less likely to call an ambulance unnecessarily.

Yes, don't turn on each other - but help by not getting stinking drunk, don't encourage friends to do it, don't see it as funny and raise hell if your kids do it.

From that statistic, if we could learn that swilling is revolting then we could really reduce the load. And there would be a few less corpses in the Severn.

Actually, I did once call an ambulance. Took the dogs out last thing, found a guy lying on the pavement on the other side of the road. Plenty curtains twitching, no-one helping. It was December and freezing. Went to speak to him and it became apparent he was drunk. He was complaining of pain in his shoulder and it looked dislocated to me (vet, not doctor!). I called the police and asked if they would take him to hospital. They refused, said they could come and arrest him . They told me to call 999. I felt bad doing it, as really he could have gone in a taxi, but he said he had no-one to take him, and I didn't feel comfortable taking him myself (Dh away, so on my own with sweary drunk man) Stood with him in the freezing cold in the early hours for 2 hours till the ambulance came (was worried he might wander off, injure himself more and waste the ambulance services time!)
When ambulance came he got all abusive and refused to get in! The paramedics shrugged and turned to go. I wasn't having that after all my efforts, so I told him that if he didn't get in the fucking ambulance I would personally dislocate his other arm. He got in, muttering that I was "awfy bossy"
I understand the hassles paramedics must have, and how drunk people are a drain on resources. But people screw up, and if I'd left him there he may well have been dead of hypothermia when I got up in the morning. The guy was having a bad night- he was slurring about his girlfriend leaving him and demanding I leave him to die. Needed to get to hospital, though

Devilish - we have had to call the paramedics a couple of times for my dad when he’s been having a hypo (which I know many people will balk at but he’s got multiple co-morbidities and the times we have called he has been gasping for breath and we couldn’t tell if he was having a cardiac arrest on top of the hypo). The two times it’s happened the paramedics stayed with us until they got his blood sugars back up and he stabilised (giving us advice on monitoring him over the next few hours) - so they actually prevented a hospital visit - both times it was a Saturday night. We felt terrible having to ring though they reassured us that it was the right thing to do.

DontLetMe that is sensible given you can’t recognise the difference, if you do a first aid course ask about “agonal breathing” as that is a sign of cardiac arrest rather than laboured breathing.

There are plenty of YouTube videos demonstrating agonal breathing which I won’t link to as some may find it distressing.

yanbu - I’d feel the same. Two grown men could have lifted her onto a chair, then they could all have waited a few minutes before making the decision to phone for an ambulance - or not.

I can't see why paramedics should have to deal with a drunk abusive man. People have to take some responsibility for their own well-being. If your sister was not sure about the ankle, it was best to wait. If the para-medics said it was OK to go by car, then it would have been OK.
I'm fed up with drunk, abusive people filling up the wards, and I'm fed up for paying for them. Anti-social behaviour and racist abusive language in hospitals is taken for granted, and we need to do something about it.

Burnpowder, you and people like you are the reason why people cant get an ambulance when its really needed and then they suffer the consequence or your inability to get your self sorted. If its not life threatening then don't call one.

I broke my ankle in London. Don't remember who helped but I got a black cab to A and E somehow. Being in an ambulance won't get you seen quicker. You're actually better off going to Urgent Care or some Minor Injuries Units instead anyway. I've been seen in minutes there, xrayed and out, whereas similar trips to A and E have taken four hours.

YANBU.
Waste of time/resurces. Well enough to call several people then well enough to hop into a car. Ambulance made her wait 30 mins so clearly she was not in a life threatening situation.. When you're in agony you can't chat.

I think she panicked.

I've called down the stairs twice. The second time I was in so much pain from broken bone in foot I couldn't speak. I didn't ring an ambulance because I knew at worse it was a broken bone. I was alone in the house and fell halfway down. A few days later I went to a&e.

Some people panic, some people are more rational. If 999 thought it was that bad they would have been there much quicker.

I've had an ambulance get to me in less than 5 minutes, but I was bleeding from my throat!that's a real 999 call

Fallen... not called

@ton181 you mean people like me who have needed one for a suspected stroke and a suspected pneumothorax? Yes...real time waster me

But I'm sure there are those on here who think I should have driven myself in both situations

Sorry but I thought I had bad gas but my appendix had ruptured, I had sepsis and going tacticardic. I called 111 and was sent an ambulance. I thought they were wasting money... I nearly died.

I have broken a bone and had a very bad "sprain" (well sort of) and they were as bad as each other in terms of pain. Only difference with the "sprain" is that I couldn't lift a pen for 6 months or write for two years despite almost daily physio...

I also know someone who tripped on the last step and broke their hip.... Another friend fell 8 foot down a climbing wall and just had a twisted ankle.

Unless you are in that situation you don't know. Bad sprains can really mess you up - until you have had one you don't understand.

I fell in the snow before Christmas and really hurt my hand. I knew it was bad but took myself off to A&E on the bus.! I've got a badly broken wrist and am in plaster for 8 weeks.

How judgemental you are, OP. My next door neighbour a few years ago dropped an egg she had cracked on to her kitchen floor, turned to pick it, slipped on it and tore her Achilles tendon. We heard the scream [summer, windows open] and went round and she was on the floor in obvious agony. I lifted the cuff of her trousers leg to look and she hit the roof and that was the end of that - 999 and a cheerful ambulance crew who really knew what they were doing. The "so what if you've broken your leg, you can always hop" mentality is boneheaded, heartless and, worst of all, dangerous. A friend of mine died twenty years ago when her fractured femur cut into the her femoral artery when her husband tried to help her up from the fall.

Weezol I LOVE that book!!! Having several paramedics in family and friends circle... I always think of the wealthy couple in the book were the woman stood on some glass and he said to imagine the extent of the injury "draw a dot with a biro preferably red for authenticity" then insisted on an ambulance taking her to hospital whilst the husband drove behind in a stupidly expensive car....
I am another who hates the misuse of NHS money, one of my bugbears is the non emergency "maternataxi" that a lot of people use in the early stages of labour to be miffed when sent home and having to pay for a taxi themselves (girl I worked with used this at least 3 times in her pregnancy even though her mum,dad, partner and sister all lived within spitting distance with cars) although my sister did actually need an ambulance giving birth on both occasions as she goes from 0-60 in the birth aspect, 2 months early-the ambulance got there just in time to cut the cord on both occasions before whizzing nephews off for special care.
I also hate people who insist on getting affordable over the counter items on prescriptions free when they can blatantly afford to pay for it ie kids paracetamol, nit lotion etc

What’s bumpowder done wrong? I’ve read back and can’t see. The thing is you don’t know what is life threatening and what isn’t.

For my son’s seizures I follow the protocol. The protocol was ‘call and ambulance every time’ before dx. Now he’s dx’d the protocol is ‘call if it lasts more than 5 mins’. But tbh I’d still call if I was in any way concerned (eg second seizure in one day). They probably aren’t life threatening but driving an unconscious someone upright in a car while trying to see whether they’re having another tonic clonic in the back is frankly dangerous.