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!

Look at the price of a 111 call Francis. Also, you can call 999 even with no credit on your phone. If I think something is an emergency, I will call the emergency number. An emergency doesn't have to be life threatening.

A neighbour now has pressure sores due to being laid on the ground waiting for 4 hours for an ambulance when she fell and broke her hip. 4 hours from phone call to 999 to it arriving.

Probably because of a sprained ankle, toe nail falling off type "emergency" somewhere.
It grinds my gears this kind of entitled, demanding and ridiculous expectations attitudes, they should charge the call out fee to the sore throat brigade of this country.

I despise people who misuse ambulances. Sorry, but a sore ankle is not a reason to call one. Had the bone been at a funny angle, sticking out etc then fine, but otherwise why couldn't the two blokes have assisted her to the car?

I can remember having to wait 3 hours for a client of mine who was suffering from septic shock - which can bloody kill you - because there were no available ambulances in our area. When the paramedics arrived, my client bless him required several lots of fluids before they could even get him onto a stretcher. They were so apologetic for the wait - they had been called to a house to deal with a broken arm.

I completely understand there are situations where you cannot or should not move somebody. But I wish people would use their heads a little more - our NHS is strapped as it is

I've sprained my ankle and broken it on 2 different occasons.The sprain was bar far worse than the break in terms of pain and the amount of time it took to heal.
It took 10 months to be back to normal from the sprain and around 2-3 months for the break and it was operated on.
They might not have been able to carry her though.

I had to go to a walk in with DC a week or so back, for a very minor issue, but it had to be addressed at the time. The doctor couldn't help as they didn't have the equipment available, so told me to go to A&E (about 20 mins away), and offered to call an ambulance. I was fine- perfectly capable, and not hysterical. DC didn't need calming down, or hand holding. I couldn't believe that a doctor was offering the use of an ambulance for such a mundane issue.

The ignorance about broken bones works both ways on here. An ambulance can be justified at times for a broken bone, especially a major bone like the femur or humerus.

I had an accident at work once that fractured my humerus. I could not have been moved. I was in so much pain I was screaming non stop and didn't even really know It was so automatic. I didn't know that pain like that could exist.

I worked in a health centre and it was one of the GPs who called an ambulance for me. The journey there was unbearable,I cannot imagine how it would have been without the pain relief I was given,and without support for my arm. The paramedics didn't think that it was broken but an X-ray proved that it was very badly broken. I needed surgery to insert a rod and pins to repair it, I suffered nerve damage and needed months and months of physio to be able to move my arm at all and 16 years later I still suffer from the effects of the nerve damage.

I have near full movement in my arm now, though often suffer extreme pain and numbness, it can be out of action for a week or moreand that was with medical assistance getting me to hospital. I shudder to think what condition my arm would have been in if anyone had tried bundling me into a car to take me to hospital.

Every fracture is different. Just because one person can be moved without the aid of a paramedic, it doesn't mean that it's appropriate for someone else.

There was no reason for her to call an ambulance. None.

Ridiculous waste of money and time.

YANBU. Complete waste of the paramedics time. They give EMERGENCY first aid and are supposed to deal with life threatening injuries. No one can tell if it is a sprain or a break until it is x-rayed anyway. Unless it is clearly a spinal injury there is no reason why she couldn't have hobbled to one of the cars. My husband is a paramedic. They are up against fierce response times, under staffed and regularly have their time, training and expertise wasted on calls like this. I do hope you pass on the feedback.

Also - been there. DS injured ankle at sporting event. It blew up like a balloon, appeared to be pointing in completely the wrong direction. Hobbled him to car, drove to A&E. Triage nurse said it was definitely broken (claimed you could tell it was a nasty break just to look at it), would need surgery etc., transferred to another hospital (we drove him in our own car with an ice pack), had x-ray and scans and it turned out to be ligament damage..... It was very painful, very worrying, quite upsetting... NOT A LIFE THREATENING EMERGENCY.

Teuf-she didn’t break it.

YANBU, sounds like a big waste of NHS resources.

Sometimes appropriate to use 999 for a fracture for sure but inappropriate in the situation described.
Your sister sounds over dramatic especially with her text to you OP.

I'm not referring specifically to you, OP. I'm referring to the general attitude that fractures aren't serious and that it's fine just to pop anyone into a car,no matter what they may have fractured or how severe their pain.

I assume she panicked at first in case no one else could be reached.

But when dad and partner arrived they should have cancelled the ambulance. A total waste of money.

I fell over and broke my foot, I was alone with two small dc. Phone dh who came home straight away and took me to A&E. They’re no way I would have called 999.

My gut reaction is to say YANBU, as by your description it sounds like a complete over reaction. But then again, seventy-odd year old DF broke his ankle at the end of the summer, by tripping over. He sat on the ground for a couple of hours hoping the pain would subside. It didn’t; eventually he managed to stand up and hobble to his car, and drive himself to A&E. Four months on, it still shows no sign of healing at all, and it doesn’t sound like there’s anything the doctors can do. I do wonder if things might have been different if he hadn’t walked and driven on it.

Ambulances are for life threatening emergencies only

No they aren't.

Can you cancel ambulances once they've been called? I once called 999 because there was lots of smoke coming from my car bonnet and I was worried that if it went up in flames the fire would spread; however before the fire engine arrived it all died down, presumably because whatever caused it had burned out. I tried phoning to cancel the fire engine but they told me they wouldn't be able to.

999 one are......

I think all that is needed is a spot of common sense really. Though sadly, common sense aint that common.

Sometimes if you call 111 they send an ambulance even if you have means to get to hospital by yourself. I sadly had a miscarriage last month, on the 12th day of bleeding I had incredible pain, felt very faint and sick then flooded quite badly. I literally crawled to my phone and rang my parents who told me to ring 999 and that they were on there way round. I didn't think it was an emergency so I rang 111 who after a consultation decided I needed an ambulance, I told them that my dad could drive me to hospital but they said an ambulance was on its way and to stay put.
Ambulance arrived within 30 minutes and carted me off, I spent 2 hours in a side room in a&me being monitored before being put in a side room on the gynae ward.
I spent 3 days and 2 nights in, I asked a doctor if I had wasted resources and she said no, I could have got a lift to a&e so I find it very hard to draw the line between wasting resources and what's classed as an emergency, I know common sense should prevail but when your panicking and hurting it must be difficult.

Fuck me, there are some competitive martyrs here.

I tried phoning to cancel the fire engine but they told me they wouldn't be able to.

That’s because there was a fire, you said it had gone out but the fire brigade would want to check it had indeed completely gone.

You can cancel ambulances. My neighbour did it last month.

So let me just ask again... if the cost of three major operations (£25,000) could be saved by calling an ambulance (£250) at the time of the accident and getting correct medical treatment, isn't it better to be safe than sorry and call the ambulance?

Unless she had sustained a complicated fracture, I am sure 2 grown men could have got her into a car, driven her to a&e and then got into a wheelchair without causing damage. I hear this argument a lot- if she was in excruciating pain and needed strong analgesia for immediate pain relief, then an ambulance may have been required. This sort of thing is why the ambulance crews are taking longer to get to people.

People quite frequently misuse the 999 ambulance (and A&E, and GPs). Sometimes it is because there's a lack of public education and people aren't sure what to do. But in my experience there is also a lot of "acopia" with people not seeming to have much in the way of self-reliance or the ability to manage relatively simple things themselves, instead always "needing someone to look at it". I'm not entirely sure why this is. I see it all the time at work.

with people not seeming to have much in the way of self-reliance or the ability to manage relatively simple things themselves, instead always "needing someone to look at it". I'm not entirely sure why this is. I see it all the time at work

Why would you not want someone medically trained to "look at it" if you're worried about something.

A lot of lives are saved by finding things early. These could be the "simple things" you seem you to think people should deal with on their own.