What, in your opinion, deserves an ambulance call out?

[Drizzledrozzle]

Inspired by another thread, what level of pain / injury / personal circumstances deserves an ambulance call out?

In my own recent experience I'm aware of my gran who calls an ambulance most days because she's confused and gets some shortness of breath.
IMO she should not be calling an ambulance, but she's alone and frightened and clearly calls them as a safety mechanism. She also calls police, fire and the gas board most days, as well as my dad x30 a day and myself once or twice. She's shortly being moved into residential care which will be a great relief to her local emergency services. However if she didn't have family / resources to pay for the care what is the answer?

My partner had a virus and while walking across the kitchen he suddenly collapsed. He didn't lose consciousness but was unable to get up, and I had two small children I was looking after so couldn't give him much care or attention or time, so I called 999. I think the shock of him collapsing made me unable to think straight.
They triaged him by phone, told him to get himself to a sofa as soon as he could, and they'd drop by when they had a moment but they wouldn't consider him a priority.
He ended up being taken in that night when they arrived with suspected meningitis. Thankfully he didn't have it and recovered soon after

When pregnant with DC1 I had a single drop of blood appear and again I freaked out and called 999. They kindly told me I didn't need an ambulance and to keep an eye, stay comfortable and get to an EPU in the morning. All was luckily fine.
I very clearly shouldn't have called 999, but no ambulance came and I only wasted 5 mins of phone time.

I don't want a critique of all my experiences, I'm sure it would be searing! But given some posters seem to think you need to be actually in cardiac arrest before you can even consider calling 999, where is your line?

I called one twice but it should have bern three times. Once for head injury gushing blood, i was 14. One for alcohol poisoning, they were unconcious and vomiting. I was 17.

I should have called for someone who kept slipping into shock from pain and illness. Thankfully they were ok in the end but ended up in a&e 3 days later, sent by a locum doctor. I took my direction from him who told me not too because his GP had convinced him he wasn't that ill when he saw them. It was horrible, he went into shock the last time the night before seeing the good locum doctor. Went white, breathing was ragged, was freezing to the touch and he didn't acknowledge me properly. I should have called an ambulance but his GPs dismissing words stilled my hand. In that situation again, i would call at least 111.

Cardiac arrest
Fits or loss of consciousness
Chest pain
SOB
Signs of sepsis
Uncontrollable bleeding
Major injuries- head injuries with loss of consciousness, broken bones not a lower arm or leg, bones poking through skin, suspicion of spinal injury.
Significant trauma history- car crashes etc

(GP)

I called for one this morning - I was on my way to work and arrived at the scene of an accident, where a man had come off his bike. He seemed concussed and possibly had cracked ribs; there was a hospital within 10 minutes walk, but he wasn't able to walk there. As I wasn't in the car an ambulance was basically the only option - I didn't have money for a taxi. As it was the ambulance arrived fairly rapidly and they took him to hospital; they can triage them better than I can so if they think someone who's conscious and breathing but injured needs an ambulance, then I don't think it's wasting their time. Still thinking about the man, I hope he's doing ok.

I called an ambulance once because my then two year olds temperature was sky high and started having a seizure, that's the only time. I saw someone on Facebook the other week say she called an ambulance as her son was in pain with his hip! She lives 10 mins from hospital And they have a car! That really irritated me. X

I've never called one, even when I broke my elbow I called a cab. Judging by response time horror stories that's a quicker safer bet. I did get enraged when a woman on TV doc called for a 2day vomiting bug though. I'd call if losing consciousness, bleeding out, really deep wound, fitting, under 10 & 'floppy', diabetic complications, heart/stroke symptoms, terminal illness complication. Basically anything that's deteriorating rapidly in front of you I think (colleagues husband is paramedic, his thoughts when asked).

I’ve never phoned 999 for an ambulance. I think I would be able to get my DS/DH to the hospital faster than an ambulance the majority of the time, unless it was heart attack/choking incident.

There have been quite a few threads recently about people suddenly not being able to move, stand or walk and being advised to get a taxi into hospital. Id call an ambulance for that, it could be really serious and getting up and trying to sit in a cab is the last thing they should do.

Ive never called 999 but 111, and they have either advised to get myslef or others to a and e or called an ambulance on our behalf.
Only time i ever would is someone unconscious, not breathing, extreme blood loss. Overdose. Heart attack stroke etc..

I called 111 once when forced by dh, was confused and felt odd, i lived 90 seconds away from a and e (paramedics timed it) i refused to begin with. But they thought i was having a stroke. Luckly it was a slient migrane.

I recently called for dsd, i knew a and e was called for but spoke to 111 to see if i was ok to take her or if they wanted a ambulance sent. They sent an ambulance.

I nearly called one recently, I was in horrendous agony and I thought maybe my appendix burst. I was about to call 111 for advice - trapped wind. Thank goodness I didn't make the call.

I phoned 111 when DD had a seizure and they sent an ambulance out but the paramedics checked her out and she was fine.

I was worried about them saying we were wasting their time but they said we had done the right thing as it was the first one she'd ever had.

My GP called an ambulance when I wandered in with my baby daughter, who was suddenly covered in bruises and had strange black blotches and blisters in her mouth. I thought she might have had a fall in her cot and bitten her gum and was blissfully unconcerned that it could be anything more serious than that!

After two GPs observed the bruising spreading over her body, they decided that it was probably a health issue rather than a safeguarding concern and called an ambulance. It turned out not to be sepsis, which they were beginning to suspect but a condition called ITP which causes internal bleeding - her body was basically overreacting to a cold! It did require a hospital stay (she was dribbling and peeing blood by the next day) but did not really require the ambulance, though had she been septic it could of course have saved her life.

My DD called an ambulance for me recently, we were out shopping when I got this sudden, heavy crushing pain in my chest, I sat outside for a few minutes thinking I'd soon feel better, but I began to feel very unwell, with sickness and feeling like I was going to pass out. She phoned our GP and they said to phone an ambulance.

Ambulance came with lights flashing and sirens going, and I got taken to hospital, it wasn't the heart attack they thought it might be, but I have to go to the Cardiology Clinic next week for further tests.

In contrast, my brother phoned 999 last week and told them he was "in terrible pain", turns out all he had was low blood sugar! Didn't need to go to hospital, and a sweet drink and something to eat would have sorted him out. My mother told me he's "angry" that I got the blue flashing lights and he didn't

Now, that's a total waste of resources

Extreme allergic reaction also would warrant 999 as woukd severe asthma attack. Have done both for my 1 year old and was told was absolutley right to do so

I've called one when I witnessed a bad car accident. Had one called for me when I passed out and cut my head open and another time when I tripped and broke my foot and ankle and there was bone under the skin moved to where it should not have been.

A few weeks ago (after a lot of abdo pain that my GP had dismissed as nerve damage) my temperature was up to 39, my abdo was rigid and very red and hot. I called 111 they said they were sending an ambulance straight away, and making me a priority call. ended up spending ten days in hospital on IV anti b's and I need further treatment.

My DD insisted I call 111, I was all for taking some paracetamol and seeing how things were going in the morning. I'd probaby have had sepsis by then. But I didn;t call 999 and possibly I should have - but fortunately 111 took the decision for me. I also had a paramedic on the phone to me talking to me while I was waiting for the ambulance to arrive, and checking I was OK.

They were all brilliant. But it is sometimes a hard decision to make if you are a 'don;t want to make a fuss person'. When I got to a and e, there were people there who ranged from a man with a torn knuckle because he'd punched someone, to a man who was in the cubicle next to me who they were waiting utilt he psychiatric team arrived in the morning to section him he was threatening suicide and that he was going to kill the first person he saw.

My mother used to call an ambulance when my Dad had a fall and she couldn;t lift him up they were both in their late 80's, he had alzheimer's. After the first time she called them she was very apologetic, but they said don't hesitate to call them if it happened again. Generally it was paramedics who came in a car rather than an ambulance, because it was usually a question of getting him upright again. not taking him to hospital.

ON the other side of the coin - my late MIL didn;t call an ambulance when my late FIL was having a heart attack, - she called the doctor at his home (it was a sunday) and the doctor then called an ambulance. Sadly it arrived too late. I think it would have been too late whatever she had done, but in a different case it might have made the difference between life and death. She was very much of the 'don't bother important people like doctors' school of thought.

I've called an ambulance twice. Once when my 13 day old stopped breathing while I was changing her nappy. It was our first night home from a 2 week stay in scbu. I had to resuscitate her. Ambulance arrived in under 5 minutes.
Second time was when her twin sister was 10 months old. I knew she wasnt right and put her in the car to go to A&E. On the way she had an enormous febril convulsion and I pulled over and called an ambulance who again arrived in under 5 minutes. They suspected bacterial meningitis (it wasn't thank god). She spent a week in hospital.

My father died on the floor of a shop from heart failure. An ambulance didn't get to him on time. I will always think before I call for an ambulance. Lives depend on it.

I broke my ankle on a school trip last week and I took a taxi rather than waiting for an ambulance.
I was immobile but with help from colleagues I got into the taxi and was helped into A&E. If I was on my own I think I would have had to call an ambulance because I couldn't walk unaided.

Heart attack
Stroke
Collapse/faint without coming round easily (this happened to me, dh called ambulance)
Major injury/loss of blood
Really ill child/can’t be roused
Asthma attack - bad

They’d be the obvious ones to me. I’ve used a&e and minor injuries mainly for the DCs suspected sprains and breakages although only had 2 breaks between them. Always taken in car even when dd could t walk! I carried her in.

Kurri my mum did that too when my dad had (and died from) his heart attack. She called the neighbour who was a retired gp - wtaf! He was probably dead by then anyway but surely call the ambulance first, then someone to help if you’re on your own.

But you don't know if it is or not. I didn't call an ambulance for my baby son and was (gently) reprimanded by the hospital staff as he was admitted as Code Blue as soon as the triage nurse saw him and ended up in hospital for two weeks. I thought he had mild croup and just wanted him checked before it got worse later in the night. The "what it's" from that night still chill me.

I've been in an ambulance 3 times. Once woth a head wound which was bleeding heavily ( paramedic asked me not to leave his nice for a ambulance looking like a blood bath next time!) once following an assault resulting in heavy bleeding ( surprised I have any blood left).. I'd have happily let dp take me but police insisted on a ambulance and once after a prolonged seizure.
.So yes to most if the things people have mentioned but according to police who dealt with me Grevious bodily harm even if not life threatening should be on list because of the shock element.

I once called an ambulance for a man in a wheelchair who I found collapsed forward and totally unresponsive in his chair about 10pm one freezing winter night. Stayed with him while brilliant call handler kept talking to me and i froze my tits off as Id covered him with my coat and jumper Paramedics said he'd probably had a stroke. I never did find out what happened to him. I like to think he survived ... and that he's still got my jumper!

111 wouldn't send an ambulance for me when I broke my ankle in 4 places. The nurse in hospital when I managed to eventually get there 2 days after my accident said the movement of crawling and hopping could easily have made my injury worse than it was originally. 3 of the 4 fractures were displaced and I've now had my second surgery on my ankle 9 months later.

So... in answer to your question god only knows.

I realise now that I should have just ignored 111 and called 999 but they told me categorically an ambulance wouldn't be sent and I was in too much agony to have an argument.

My two year old recently sustained a head injury. Blood everywhere, was very distressing, an ambulance was called but 45 minutes later no one arrived.

In the end I had to drive him alone to A&E with a blood soaked bandage around his head, shouting the whole way as I was told not to let him fall asleep.

So even when you think you need emergency help, it’s not always there.

Elderly or disabled person fallen out of bed and not able to be safely helped / lifted back into bed. Especially if there's a risk injury has occurred.