Driving to a&e is quicker than an ambulance

[Pinkerbells]

I had to call 999 for my DP yesterday. (For context, it was for a reoccurring condition, and last time he had the same symptoms, he was in hospital for a month, had 2 emergency ops and spent most of his time in icu.)
The ambulance came pretty quick with 3 crew members. They did the observations and decided that yes indeed he did need to go to hospital. The conundrum came in the fact that it would be quicker for me to drive him the 30 minutes to a&e than for him to go in an ambulance, as once they got him there, unless his condition worsened, they would have to sit with him in the ambulance for 3-4 hours waiting for him to be admitted. This would make 3 crew and an ambulance unavailable for this amount of time!

I drove him in and dropped him off, and he got seen in 20 minutes. Not 3 hours, or even 1 hour. 20 minutes!!!!!

AIBU to be gobsmacked by the the whole situation, (apart from the 20 minutes, that was awesome). Don't get me wrong, I understand things have to be different because of covid, and I know the NHS are really really struggling. But surely there is a more efficient way of processing patients that frees everything up quicker than that

My BIL had a heart attack recently. He called an Uber which arrived in 2 minutes and got him to hospital in 10 minutes. At the time I was a bit aghast because frankl, having a cardiac arrest in an Uber isn’t ideal. Now I guess it was a good decision.

And yes, he did know he was having an MI and made that judgement on that basis.

A few emergency situations with children over the years, never considered calling an ambulance as I was able to drive the child in question directly there and that was the quickest way to get them to medical care.

In all instances we were seen very quickly.

My DS has severe asthma and I've had to rush him to A&E over 30 times. I've always driven him as its the quickest way for him to get emergency treatment I've never even considered calling for an ambulance and he's always been seen immediately.

Surely it depends on the circumstances and where you live? And also the time of day it happens, whether you have neighbours, family etc?

Covid has made it a great deal worse because even triage takes longer. Paramedics can't simply go back out again before deep cleaning and changing PPE. Every little thing takes longer.

In my previous neck of the woods you'd be lucky to find a taxi able to take you most of the time - most had contracts for school runs or shopping trips or parties, so you had to book them three days ahead. And that was a small market town in the South. No Uber even in large towns. and cities in the county.

If you live alone it's a problem only solved by an ambulance. If you live with someone and neither of you drive or don't drive well at night and you either don't know or can't contact your neighbours, ditto. If you live in a very rural spot you will possibly need an air ambulance though some can't fly at night.

I went to hospital the other week.

A woman came in with her husband and was banging on that they'd waited 4 hours for an ambulance then drove down.

I'm sure I wasn't the only one thinking that they perhaps should have driven down to begin with.

We drove a family member to hospital as he was ill but we didn’t realise how badly. I wish I had called an ambulance so he could have been assessed/moved more safely by trained professionals.

they would have to sit with him in the ambulance for 3-4 hours waiting for him to be admitted.

Faster to be seen if walk in than if ambulance arrival has been true for decades (2001 story), it's not just a 2022 thing that ambu-conveyed patients wait outside & the ambulance can't depart.

Zombie thread Dec2920

In 2019 a few weeks after a heart attack I went into unstable angina. En route to the hospital (I was ok to talk) the paramedic said I was the most serious call she had attended in about 6 months, and so many people misuse 999 and A and E.