WWYD heart attack and no ambulance?

[1wokeuplikethis]

This is what happened to our family today. My dad had a heart attack, I phoned 999 and I was put on hold. I’ve heard about this but never thought it actually happens. When I finally got through they said an ambulance would take 2hrs so I can wait or take him myself. Nearest hospital is 30mins away, so I needed my husband to drive so I could be there if dad went unconscious but seriously, WHAT DO YOU DO? I thought, the shop nearby has a defibrillator outside, should I take that? But I don’t know if you can take them. It was busy A roads the whole journey with speed cameras and every light was red- do you go through them? If dad had gone unconscious in the car, do you stop and pull him out on the wet road to do CPR? Carry on to hospital?

I felt so helpless. You always think an ambulance is round the corner but what if it isn’t and you’re just an average joe with no medical knowledge?

Please please tell me, what would you do in that circumstance? I was not prepared.

@AlaskaThunderfuckHiiiiiiiii

Staff are isolating when they aren’t even Ill so that isn’t helping things either

A policy created by infection control experts who know what they are doing. If they thought it was remotely sensible to follow main government guidance they would.

Closing of entire wards because they have a covid outbreak or infecting vulnerable patients causes way more problems than it solves in staffing.

Sorry about your Dad, OP. That shouldn’t have happened. We do need people to make as much noise about it as possible.

So sorry you had to deal with this.

There are so many cases of there not being enough ambulances- when will the government listen and actually do something about it? What does it take. I live in a town of 100000 people and we no longer have an ambulance. There used to be an ambulance station.

I think you did the right thing in the circumstances.

@OvertiredandConfused
Here’s the link for your chart
www.health.org.uk/news-and-comment/charts-and-infographics/health-spending-as-a-share-of-gdp-remains-at-lowest-level-in
It does say in the link that …
‘ Due to low spending growth since that point the NHS has grown at a similar rate to GDP growth, and it now stands at 7.2% of GDP. In terms of growth as a percentage of GDP, the nine-year period since 2009/10 is the lowest since the first decade of the NHS.’

Dh (42) had a heart attack and I just took him to hospital by car as as I thought it might be indigestion. I did rush though and it was nearby so not a long journey, I also rushed into A&E and said he was having a heart attack ☹️. I knew I could get him there quicker than an ambulance even though at the time there was no long delays.

@InCahootswithOrwell I know where you’re coming from but it is somewhat an elephant in the room and it isn’t helping staffing levels, we have several people off just now due to testing positive that have no symptoms what so ever and how having to cover them with the little staff we have for the next 10 days so that means visits are being moved etc

That is awful. Hope your dad is okay. Honestly I wouldn't have thought about taking the cpr machine. It's not a bad idea.

I maybe would have grabbed it and took it to the house until the ambulance arrives.

Sorry you had this experience. I've called 999 twice, ever, once for ambulance and once for police. Neither came, they were too busy. In the ambulance case, we opted to carry the casualty too the nearest a+e as we were quoted a wait time of more than 4 hours. He went non responsive en route, I handed him over to a+e staff who took him straight into majors whereupon I promptly burst into tears. A young man with a tiny cut on his lip then loudly complained that everyone was being seen ahead of him and a+e was full of "kids with colds" while his embarrassed looking companion tried to shush him.

They’ve been doing this to us since 2019. First time they thought dh had had a silent heart attack and told me to drive him, the nurse was very disparaging about our gp when we got to hospital,

2nd, 3rd, 4th times it was a case of make your way to the nearest a+e but when they need to transfer him between hospitals he’s hooked up to monitors and they use the lights and sirens and drive fast because they don’t want him coding in the back of the ambulance.

I know the favorite pastime here is to mock US healthcare. But our wait times average 4-9 minutes regardless of the type of call (stubbed toe, strokes, heart attacks, to picking up gran after a fall) for an ambulance.

Yeah, but also, trying to decide if you want to pay your rent this month, or call an ambulance.

I’ll take our system with its occasional flaws any day of the week.

@mugoftea456 a defib is not a cpr machine

A cpr machine is called a Lucas. Find the videos on YouTube if you want to see the difference.

@ChardonnaysPetDragon

The solution is adequate funding not further cutting the service offered. Defunding ivf also further stigmatises infertility.

It's a bottomless pit, it will swallow all you throw at it and ask for more.

But the UK does spend less than other leading economies, according to the ONS.

www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthandsocialcare/healthcaresystem/articles/howdoesukhealthcarespendingcompareinternationally/2016-11-01

Yes, when we were waiting in A&E a lady with a cut finger not requiring stitches was attended to in the waiting room by a nurse practitioner. She should have been sent home at the door imo and certainly shouldn't have received care before others who were waiting. I had to wait 6 hours with a deformed wrist and broken back, she waited about 30 minutes. Afaic she should have been allowed to wait overnight if necessary. It was completely unacceptable.

So?

Even when we spent more it mostly went on management and health tourism.

The whole thing needs a realistic reform, not bleating on about how wonderful it is. Because it isn't.

The most effective thing that could be done is to reintroduce the nursing bursary and make it non repayable providing the nurses benefitting provide a minimum of 10 years' service to the NHS and to ensure that nurses are re-equipped with actual nursing skills.

What an absolute load of bollocks. Nurses get “actual nursing skills” during the 2300 hours that they work for free while they’re training. They’re not supposed to be counted in the ward numbers but they always are. The NHS wouldn’t be able to run of it wasn’t for the goodwill of its staff, from the bottom right the way up to the top.

I also recollect cutting my knee badly in the 60s. A flap of skin was hanging off. My grandma took me straight to the local Dr who cleaned, stitched and dressed it to save us the bother of going to the hospital.

@DrDreReturns

few people are prepared to have a real conversation and make difficult decisions about funding and running the NHS in the future. This is the danger with turning the NHS in to a national religion - it makes it impossible to reform or criticise it.

No one wants to have the conversation about potentially paying more either. Everyone instantly throws out the American model as if it is the only other healthcare system. Other models include having public or private health insurance, and everyone must have one or the other, whether employed or unemployed. The NHS is not sustainable at the moment, it needs a reform desperately.

I broke my shoulder in September after falling from my bike on the way to work.

I was on the ground unable to get up due to my shoulder and dialled 999. They told me 2 hour wait. As it happened I got my husband down and with the help of passers by managed to haul myself up and got driven to A&E.

I'm in London, so busy area but I would have thought plenty of ambulances.

Now I get that they have to prioritise. I was conscious and breathing and wasn't losing blood etc. I wasnt going to die. But 2 hours is bad, and in your dad's situation was worse as it was clearly life and death!

I don't blame the ambulance service. I blame the shower of shites underfunding it for years.

I hope your dad is ok x

One reason for ambulance delays is that they are backed up in queues waiting to admit current patients to a + e.
There are NO empty beds in a + e because there are no beds available in wards.
There are no empty beds in wards because there is no place for people to go to recuperate, rehabilitate or go into care.
It is a chain reaction.
Successive governments have failed to make provision for decades.
Staff in NHS, including ambulance service, physiotherapy, mental health etc are on their knees, working flat out.
And this was before Covid.
So how much worse it is now.
Basic first aid training for everyone would be amazing and help declog (!) a + e.
But people have become used to getting helped in every circumstance, rarely taking personal responsibility for the outcome.. think falling off high heels in the street when pissed put of their skulls... we have all seen those on a Saurday night... Calling 999 for the least reason... cut fingers, the lightbulb needing changed... yes REALLY!! Walking into a + e with a problem they have had for 3 weeks.
The list goes on.

Sorry... had to vent!!

@SpanielsAreMyLifepan 842 patients with covid in ventilated beds as of this week. Where do you get 7 ?

www.sja.org.uk/get-advice/first-aid-advice/heart-conditions/heart-attack/

Good advice here, especially the aspirin.

The most important thing : Defibrillation - good videos available on how to access them and use them on the above site.

@ChardonnaysPetDragon tories have been in power most of the last century and this. Surely they have to take some responsibility for its woeful state ? Or is it all Blairs fault ?

@ChardonnaysPetDragon tories have been in power most of the last century and this. Surely they have to take some responsibility for its woeful state ? Or is it all Blairs fault ?

And has the NHS always been this dire for the last century? If it has been then why do we perceiving it as the best thing ever? And if not, the surely the Toris have done something right most of the century?

Blair's mistake was bloating it. It's not sustainable in the current state.

And please don't @ me. It's very passive aggressive and immature. I'm on the thread, but even if I wasn't I can happily ignore childish call outs.

And also Blair greatly contributed to the GP woes and to the current population boom.

@ChardonnaysPetDragon

The solution is adequate funding not further cutting the service offered. Defunding ivf also further stigmatises infertility.

It's a bottomless pit, it will swallow all you throw at it and ask for more.

Agree totally.

Demand is infinite and resources are finite.

Peoples' expectations have increased and outstripped facilities.

If there was a solution it would have been found by now.