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!

I remember a few years ago a friend telling me a long story with lots of eye-rolling about how her sister had fallen down drunk and hurt her shoulder and they'd had to wait 2 HOURS for an ambulance! Dramatic pause as she waited for me to share her incredulous indignation - then the conversation went like this:

Me: Couldn't one of you have driven her?
Friend: We'd all been drinking
Me: Taxi?
Friend:
Me: They have to prioritise the life-threatening cases
Friend: Why should we pay for a taxi?
Me: An ambulance isn't a free ride to hospital
Friend:

She just didn't get it.

It is an unpalatable truth about human nature that when something is free (at the point of use) people are wasteful/abuse it. You only have to observe an all-you-can-eat buffet to know this.

I took a 3 day first-aid course for work and we were told that generally suspected broken arm bones didn't need an ambulance but if a break /fracture was suspected on a load-bearing limb, that an ambulance should be called: if the limb did have a break, man-handling the injured person into the car could make the break worse.

Not being psychic and without very obvious clues (like a loud snap or bones sticking out of the leg) how would a lay-person know if something was a break or a sprain?

i don't know if the OP's sister was being unreasonable, but I also wouldn't want someone to be a martyr or go against first-aid or NHS guidelines.

www.nhs.uk/chq/pages/1050.aspx?categoryid=72

I'm getting a little upset at the "Ambulances are for life-threatening situations only" comments. There are plenty of "in between" situations where the incident may not be life threatening but bundling someone into a car may not be appropriate or possible.

I have arthritis which affects the nerves in my back & legs so have drop foot syndrome i.e. sometimes my toes droop without me realising so I catch them going upstairs; works the other way too, sometimes I catch my heel going downstairs. I live alone so if I caught my foot in either way and fell badly and had a suspicion of a break, what should I do? My sister works awkward shifts, no other relatives close by or close enough friends with their own transport. I'm not the only person who doesn't have someone convenient to just drop everything to drive me to hospital at no notice.

I totally agree with you OP. X

When I broke my ankle I hopped into the house with the help of teenage DD and then, when I was fairly certain that it wasn't just a sprain, hopped to the car with DP and he took me to A&E.

It would never have occurred to me to phone an ambulance TBH unless there was nobody I could have phoned to give me a lift (or if bone was sticking out obviously!!)

This has been an educative thread. I've been reading advice on when to call an ambulance, and it seems things have changed majorly over the last 40 years or so. At the beginning of this period, a broken bone was most certainly a reason to call 999, now it seems that you should only dial 999 if the person is on the verge of dying. I wonder what has changed (apart from NHS resources). Not just medical changes, I guess, but also increased car ownership and ability to drive?

To those who are saying "of course she could have hopped to the car""she'd got two men to help her" - there's a huge range of differences even in sprains. I sprained my ankle and ripped some ligaments where they joined my shin - I certainly wasn't hopping anywhere, and it was 3 days before I'd let anyone touch me. (Of course that also meant I wasn't going to go anywhere near a medic of any sort, so calling 999 didn't come into it).

It is all dependent, and I say that with a decades experience in 999 calls

Elderly woman, fallen, foot pointing wrong way and history of breaking bones - ambulance
Healthy child with painful wrist - 99% of the time doesn't need an ambulance

The call will be triaged, an ankle injury is a low priority as is a wrist one so there may be a long wait unless there is an open fracture. But the frustration is when someone rings an ambulance for a q broken ankle, has been able to walk to open the door, relative is there and says "I will follow in the car". Then the next call is for a 3 week old baby that isn't breathing

But it's dependant on each individual case. If you can hop/be helped/aren't passing out with pain/have transport then do that. If you're screaming in agony, stuck on the floor and your limb is at the wrong angle, then ring an ambulance. Common sense most of the time

YANBU could the family members have lifted her and she hop supported to the car? Ambulances are massively overused that a call like that could have stopped that ambulance getting to somebody more seriously injured.

And as you said she had sprained it and hasn't torn vital tendons as one poster suggested so no reason she couldn't have hopped with support...

Sadly so many people panic and lack common sense...

Hindsight is a wonderful thing. At the time she had no way of knowing if it was a break or a sprain.

Meredin - call volume has massively increased. On average maybe 4000 calls in a 24hr period. This used to be around 2000. The amount of staff and ambulances hasn't doubled, neither has the hospitals, staff there, triage etc etc etc
So there's higher demand, people think they will be sued for helping, a LOT of people have no first aid knowledge - I'm talking water on burns, pressure on a cut type thing, not advanced stuff. Panic, mass panic if lots of people are there. More people have mobiles so easier access to services. Then there's the "I pay my taxes so it's my right" and "I don't want to pay for a taxi"
People will ring after having abdo pain for an hour and won't have taken any pain relief. They can't get a GP appointment for 3 weeks and so ring 999 about a cough or STI. Or they don't have any knowledge about other services
I could go on!

As Ollivander84 said it's common sense really isn't it...

If it's broken it's a hell of a lot more painful than a sprain and you can hop with support when sprained

The NHS being free at the point of use is both one of its most admirable & noble characteristics AND one of its biggest problems. If there is a complete disconnect between what people are paying and what they are getting out of the service, they are not motivated to use it judiciously. A small charge, even a nominal one, would make people think more carefully. In New Zealand I believe they charge about £10 per GP appointment to cut down on wastage.

If it's broken it's a hell of a lot more painful than a sprain

not necessarily true, I've done both at the same time, both were equally painful and disabling

We all pay taxes but some use the service a lot more than others. This is fine if they qualify as emergency calls. A sprained ankle with 3 cars available and relatives to support said person is NOT an emergency call.

I’m with the OP. If I had called the ambulance for every fracture and suspected fracture with my dc we would have been at the £2k worth in ambulance costs by now. As it happens, about £1500 of the £2k would have been for fractures and they still didn’t need an ambulance. She should have been put in the car and driven round there.

I fell down a stair. Called an ambulance as couldn’t weight bear. Ended up with two screws in my ankle for a severe sprain.

I did think it was broken as it was purple and I felt a pop

I agree with @MonumentalAlabaster I wonder just how many non emergencies call outs there would be if they started charging people. If it was a broken leg I could certainly understand but not an ankle; you're not that immobile with support from people and I should know as it's happened to me.

@passthestarmix have you ever had a severe sprain? As in fully torn multiple ligaments? That is after all what a severe sprain is. Have you ever tried walking on torn ankle ligaments? Have you tried just sitting still with freshly torn ankle ligaments? It's excruciating.

My dad broke his foot falling off the bottom step - he hopped to the car, and then drove himself (in fairness it was his left foot and he drives an Auto). I’m AMAZED that anyone this an ambulance is appropriate in these circumstances.

SideOrderofSprouts Your sprain sounds very servere, by what OP was saying it doesn't sound like her relative's was.

BumpowderSneezeonAndSnot I've broken my ankle