AIBU to think ambulances aren’t taxis and she could have taken a taxi to the hospital?

[12FreeRangeEggs]

Friend fell over whilst out walking her dog, she was in a country park car park when the accident happened. Good samaritans in the vicinity helped her. Her leg was sore, but not obviously broken. Unable to drive back home, she called her sister to come and collect her.

Sister drove her to sister’s house, gave her tea and cake and they watched an episode of The Crown together before Googling the leg injury and realising Friend’s leg was possibly broken.

They called 999 and asked for an ambulance to take Friend to hospital. They were told the wait was 2.5 hours. They waited an hour, then realised they didn’t want to be in A&E too late at night so Sister drove Friend to A&E.

Leg was broken. Leg was plastered. Friend was home 5 hours later.

All is good BUT i am wondering why they rang for an ambulance. I have lived all over the world, including Switzerland, which offers arguably some of the best health care. Yet i would never have called an ambulance for a broken leg. Even in Switzerland, unless you need a Dr / paramedic on site, for example car crash, unable to breathe, heart problems, or an injured child, you take yourself to hospital.

DH had a motorbike accident in Switzerland and broke his arm. The police dropped him off at the hospital as they were driving back in a similar direction. There was no question of calling an ambulance, DH was conscious and his injuries were not life threatening. But in the UK people treat ambulances like taxis for the sick and injured.

AIBU to think this?

Surely we should change the way we use the NHS in order to save it? Ambulances should not be A&E taxis.

I don’t think all leg fractures are the same. I certainly think that if she was fine enough to travel in your sister’s car then sit and watch telly with some cake then she was fine to get back in the car or taxi to go to hospital. I would have thought ambulances are for bad leg breaks where the person is not able to move or is screaming in agony, or can’t feel a part of their leg or it’s swelling at an alarming rate or something looks so out of position that you feel (sick) to look at it.

There seems to be a feeling on MN that A and E visits mean calling an ambulance. Most people can go in a car or taxi. It’s often quicker than waiting for an ambulance, as they prioritise obvious emergencies, particularly if you live in a town or a city with a hospital within 20 mins drive.

In this case, it would have been perfectly safe, but not all broken legs are equal.

Any open fracture or fracture that needs to be immobilised before moving the patient really needs a paramedic, and I wouldn't dream of trying to move someone with a possible femur fracture, as they frequently involve damage to the big artery behind the knee. I'd probably think twice about taking someone to hospital with a suspected tibia fracture, as the tibial artery can be compromised and I don't feel confident about my ability to assess a pedal pulse or capillary refill.

I once called an ambulance to get me to hospital with a broken wrist. My shithead ExH refused to take me and went off to work, no taxis would come to the house because it was snowy and I live up a steep hill, and they were only doing local journeys anyway (A&E is 10 miles away), the buses weren't running because of the snow and I knew that it was a Colles fracture that needed to be reduced.

The paramedic came in a car rather than an ambulance, for some reason that I can't now recall.

My neighbour had to call an ambulance when she fell down the stairs pissed and got a 4" gash in her arm, together with some very bad bruising. They (her DH was also pissed) called a taxi, but the driver refused to take them because she was a) pissed and b) bleeding. I told her off, because one of us would happily have driven them.

I was at a Cedliah a few mints ago and someone fell and hurt his shoulder. People were phoning ambulances, but I told them he didn't need one and made them cancel. It was. A mile to
The local trauma centre on a quiet road. I'm a nurse, so very protective of NHS resources. Though I've not lived down telling my friend who thought her had a stroke to call a taxi. He was 1/2 a mile from said trauma centre. He said "I'll call an ambulance, it what they are for". They took him straight to the strike unit!

You can die from a broken leg - you can’t tell from how it looks on the outside what the damage is on the inside. The important thing is quick access to treatment.

The general advice for suspected broken legs is to call an ambulance. This is because of possible damage and because of the arteries and risk of (something I can't remember the name of!) but it stops blood flow to the feet.

I would think if they googled then they followed the advice they found online.

I don't disagree that if you can get up and get yourself there you shouldn't. But I also can see why 2 people who were unsure and have never experienced this before followed online advice. After all. The NHS actually encourages people nowadays to look online!

Yanbu. 111 advised an ambulance for dd last week. It wasn’t necessary and we took her ourselves.
They were obviously very busy that night, ambulances waiting to unload patients and people on beds in the corridors. I would hated to have added to that unnecessarily.

2 years ago DH was in motorbike accident. He rode his motorbike home from the accident. Hobbled into the house, told me to go out. 90mimutes later he had to be carried out of the house by the ambulance crew, while a neighbour took in our kids and another neighbour drove to collect me. 4 days in hospital with a busted knee and a broken leg.

Mmmm lots of mixed responses.

Personally i feel that an intelligent adult who is happy to eat cake and join in on her sister’s Netflix bing afternoon could not have been in that much pain if the cake and Netflix was prioritised over seeking medical help.

I appreciate some of the horror stories on here sound as if ambulances were rightly called. But in this exact instance WSBU?? IMHO I think so.

Of course you can call am ambulance for broken bones. Ever had a bone break through the skin? Shit like that can cause sepsis / gangrene really fast and it’s better to call 999 and have them say no, than risk getting an infection because you need to walk miles to the hospital (or worse delay it next day because the hospital is in another town).

Thing is, the fact the ambulance was hours away means that they weren’t concerned that all the dangerous things people are talking about on here were about to happen very quickly. And in the end they drove to the hospital themselves because of how late it was going to be in a&e.

I have a serious medical condition and have been carted off in an ambulance more than once, because doing so means they can do ECG’s etc on route and arrive with the information to hand. However, I have also been driven by a family member to a&e which was probably quicker than I would have had to wait for an ambulance, and I wasn’t seen any less quickly.

Last time I was taken to hospital was a couple of weeks ago, and we waited in a&e for eight hours because half the patients there were time wasters.

She clearly didn’t need an ambulance given she did make it there on her own after having partaken of tea and cake, and no, google is not your friend.

I was told ambulance could be 3 hours, it drove round the corner as I ended the call. Seems to be default info here as I've been told the same on another occasion

The paramedics were gits, decided I hadn't broken anything, wouldn't issue anything stronger than gas and air for pain relief. If you'd asked afterwards I'm sure they'd have said it was unnecessary even though i 100% could not walk, because I wasn't shouting, crying etc. They will never know that I actually had two broken bones/joints and that they got it hugely wrong.

AlternativePerspective: I agree. Last time I was in A and E was because I took my dad who had severe abdominal pain (buscopan not touching it), is in his 80s with various other health problems and who had been sent there directly from an out of hours centre at 10pm at night.

Poor man was trying to be stoical despite his age and severe pain. But sitting in that waiting room and watching the gangs of families and adult friends who treated it like they were extras in Casualty or a social occasion, really opened my eyes. There was one group of young people, early 20s, who took up half the waiting room and seats and were really loud and boisterous. I assumed they must be waiting for someone wirh a really serious problem. But, no, after a while this Young man came out with a cut on his nose. I gathered he had been in some kind of altercation. A cut on his fucking nose!! The drama his friends made out of that was quite astounding to watch. He was lapping up the attention from his gang of about 8 friends, who must have been there for hours.

My dad was kept there and kept there and after he had seen a doctor he was still kept there waiting for blood results in a side waiting room where the only other people left in the end (as it was nearly morning) were druggies and then another girl who seemed well enough to be ringing all sorts including her boyfriend, to tell them alll about her being in A and E and how much she was looking forward to their planned day out tomorrow.

My poor dad was fainting wirh the pain and i was holding him up trying to stop him slide onto the floor off his chair while shouting for some medical assistance. He finally got moved to a ward at about 6.30am where he had to wait to have an ultrasound (turned out to be gallstones)

It’s wrong. The people who really had something wrong with them were the ones sitting suffering in silence not causing any fuss (cos they didn’t feel well enough to) and the ones who got released were the ones causing a huge fuss and drama. Those cases were nothing that couldn’t have waited till the next day to go to minor injuries or a walk in centre.

I don’t know when young people became so lacking in resilience. It was all the older people just sitting and getting on with it.

If you have a way of getting to hospital and it's safe to transfer to the vehicle then generally it's far quicker to use a car (very rural locations that need an air ambulance aside). It takes me under 10 mins to the hospital, why even ring 999 (there's a defibrillator outside the coop that's quicker than calling too) I've done 3 dashes with my kid who has a form of epilepsy and I know I get her there quicker

the paramedics were gits, decided I hadn't broken anything, wouldn't issue anything stronger than gas and air for pain relief. If you'd asked afterwards I'm sure they'd have said it was unnecessary even though i 100% could not walk, because I wasn't shouting, crying etc. They will never know that I actually had two broken bones/joints and that they got it hugely wrong.

It’s probably because of all the drama queens fussing over little things that they can’t tell the difference now between people who really are in pain. You see it on the labour wards too. Women screaming at the top of their lungs for hours to “get it out - NOW!”

I’ve had 2 children. Second was pretty textbook. Painful but yeah, birth is. First one DS1 was in an unusual position so I had horrific pain for 48 hours wirh labour going nowhere and if I’d had a gun I would seriously have considered shooting myself. I still didn’t scream the ward down. Crying silently and sobbing on DH’s shoulder, yes. I remember the midwives coming in and rolling their eyes at the noises from the other rooms and one of them actually said, “she’s just having straightforward crontactions, there are no complications. Your pain is severe. It should be YOU doing the screaming!”

It must really make it hard to separate the drama queens from the people who really need their help.

A broken limb can lead to blood loss and an ambulance is better then a taxi
A taxi is a way of transporting a person to hospital but a taxi is no good if a medical emergency develops

A taxi often gets you there quicker than an ambulance would. No good if a medical emergency develops if you’re sitting in the house waiting for an ambulance for an and a half when you could have been there in a taxi in 15 mins and the medical emergency then happened in A and E

And ambulances should only be for an actual medical emergency, not in case one MIGHT happen.

The many people I go to with a number of cars parked outside but instead wait hours for an Ambulance, or the members of public whom after we have assessed them then decide there's no way they want to go in an Ambulance and say they would rather go in their own car or taxi!!! Yes I understand that it then means there is a Ambulance back on the road but why not think of making you're own way in the first place!?!?! 🤷🏻‍♀️

The service is that stretched that some days or nights the service offers to pay for a taxi just so the ambulance can be back out on the road...

If you're friend made it home Op she could have diverted to A&E, and the break can't have been that bad because there is no way she would have got off the floor let alone sit in a car and get out, walk in to the house etc....

Apologies for the rant! Just makes my blood boil ... At work we are of the opinion time wasters or the use of the service in the wrong way should incur a Fine

A taxi that is halfway to hospital and calls an ambulance if a medical emergency happens is still closer to emergency medical attention that someone whose medical emergency happens at home and whose ambulance is coming from the hospital.

If you can get in a car , go home, drink tea , eat cake and watch TV before deciding whether you need to go to A and E you do not require an ambulance .

Well it was actually broken! It's not like it was just bruised or anything! Maybe the adrenaline initially stopped it from hurting so much. Seeing as it didn't happen to you maybe you shouldn't comment? And before anyone says anything I'm very against anyone wasting NHS resources/time.

Curly
"I remember the midwives coming in and rolling their eyes at the noises from the other rooms and one of them actually said, “she’s just having straightforward crontactions, there are no complications. Your pain is severe. It should be YOU doing the screaming!”

They were incredibly unprofessional and disrespectful towards their other patients. Whatever their opinions they should have kept them to themselves.

I'm not surprised by this anecdote though, I myself was treated very dismissively and disdainfully by the first midwife who was assigned to me while I was in labour. She behaved as if I was an annoyance and inconvenience to her. I don't particularly recall doing a lot of shouting (not in the beginning) but even if i had, so the fuck what. Everyone experiences pain differently.

You don't get a fucking medal for giving birth in a nice quiet ladylike manner.

Ambulances should be for people who can't physically get themselves to hospital or whose life would be endangered if they tried (so those who can't mobilise, or are having symptoms that may mean they are in danger of death/serious illness quite shortly)

Problem is, most of the public don't know what constitutes an emergency that needs an ambulance and what could be safely done in a relatives car or taxi.

@needmoresleep1

We are commenting because there is a thread about it, the last time I checked when a thread is created it is open for people to comment, unless things have changed and we shouldn't comment on threads?