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.

I know defibrillator have instructions on but I was a lot more confident having used it a few times in first aid. I do think showing what’s in box and what to do should be more widespread. We watched some YouTube St. John ambulance videos on first aid course they were easy to follow.

[quote Greys007]@1wokeuplikethis I’m so sorry you had to experience that OP. How terrifying 😓 and I’m sorry to hear about your mum. Glad your Dad seems to be doing ok ❤️
My Grandfather (89) had a really nasty fall at the start of Dec - he literally couldn’t move and had a nasty head injury. Medical advice on the phone was absolutely not to try and move him and to wait for paramedics. And that both our local A&Es (40ish minutes in opposite directions) were full! 7 hours it took for an ambulance. Someone called back after 3 hours to check for signs of a stroke. Obviously we knew that his fall wasn’t likely to be life threatening and wasn’t the highest priority call which is fair enough but it’s getting to be quite a scary situation when there aren’t resources to deal with a heart attack promptly

Thank you for posting though. I have a DS (13 months) and have been meaning to do an updated first aid course ‘just incase’ but we’ve been so busy it slipped my mind. I’ve just booked one for DH and I.[/quote]
Your poor grandfather!
Our elderly neighbour had a fall in his garden - hit his head and was bleeding from several big cuts. We were told not to move him and that an ambulance would be over six hours.

Given that a six hour wait outside in the sleet seemed likely to finish him off, we moved him.

As another poster pointed out earlier, A&E is rammed with covid patients - many of whom have not taken a vaccine. Ambulances that arrive can not unload because the beds are full (of unvaccinated covid sufferers) so they wait for hrs (4-8) outside A&E. This means they are now off the road and unavailable to go to others.

The Govns over the last 30+ years have closed many of the local cottage hospitals and district hospitals that looked after so many post-op patients meaning the big general hospitals now fill up with those patients. GPs now offer more services (yes they do - nurses do alot more there than they did 30 yrs ago) but the number of GP practices has gone down as they have merged and moved to bigger towns, many town GPs had small village surgeries 1-2x a week and people waited until the GP was there to see them about minor things, these minor things now don't get done until they become major and require hospital jobs.

Honestly this is not a Tory or a Labour issue, both are equally to blame, we need to take a good look at the 1960/70s distributed hospital system and demerge tihngs out again from the central mega-hospital.

There are lots of free first aid videos online, I'm putting them on my to do list for 2022.
Recently I had to do CPR in a RL situation I couldn't do it properly, my Dsis took over it was a horrible experience, if I'd had training the panic may not have been so bad.

I had to call an ambulance for my Dad in November, he was struggling to breathe had pulmonary fibrosis and turning blue.
We had to wait an hour and the call operator told me to find a defibrillator to use if my dad stopped breathing!
Luckily we didn't need to use it but he then died a few days later in hospital.

@iklboodolphrednosedpaindear that is true, hence following the instructions, the device will state if a shock is required, if not it will measure the rhythm, the more modern ones will even provide a live link/print out for the paramedics to use, no one should be afraid of placing the pads on if the patient is unresponsive so shouldn't read too much into your post.

@Dixiechickonhols totally agree.

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

I agree with this and would extend it to all NHS roles that require a degree and to social workers as well.

Don't pull over because medical care is more important than CPR (one will save someone if they can be saved, the other won't).

Err not if the patient doesn't get any CPR en route it's not. They will definitely be dead by the time you get there. You pull over, phone 999 and tell the CPR is in progress and they willl send all over the Cavalry.

You have to phone 999 to get the codes for the defibrillators digi locks. So no you can't just take one just in case!

@iklboodolphrednosedpaindear I completely agree. And for non cardiac collapses, and non shockable rhythms they are no use. Being able to do CPR is far more useful. Also people may delay treatment while trying to find a defib. They are not the magic wand that people think they are.

Given that a six hour wait outside in the sleet seemed likely to finish him off, we moved him.

Terrible advice not to move him. It's not like he had an unstable spinal fracture!

All NHS and social workers who need a degree to work in our Public Health and social Services should not have to acquire massive debt for that degree.

@Longcovid21

Given that a six hour wait outside in the sleet seemed likely to finish him off, we moved him.

Terrible advice not to move him. It's not like he had an unstable spinal fracture!

To be fair, for all the operator knew, he could have had. They were making clear that if he was moved, it was against their advice.

@Longcovid21

Given that a six hour wait outside in the sleet seemed likely to finish him off, we moved him.

Terrible advice not to move him. It's not like he had an unstable spinal fracture!

It's part of the script the call handler is required to follow for falls. They're not allowed to say "Look mate, just use your common sense. If you think it's safe to move him then go ahead."