On hold to ambulance

[AlizeeEasy]

Earlier this evening I had to call for an ambulance, I was shocked to be put on hold for a few minutes. I’ve never had to call them before so I don’t know if this is somewhat the norm, especially for a Saturday evening. Does this seem like it should be the case?

For context I had initially called for the police as I thought the matter was more appropriate for them and they answered immediately but told me to hang up and call back for the ambulance.

I have such a deep respect for the emergency services, so this isn’t a critique of them, just of the apparent lack of resources to cover busier periods.

If you need an ambulance expect to wait hours. Welcome to modern Britain.

No idea how often it happens, but if all staff are busy, which must occur now and then, there’s not much they can do. Did they do any assessment regarding how urgent it sounded before they put you on hold?

Yes I’ve been on hold for nearly 10 minutes several times over last year or so to get through to ambulance control. I’ve even had to wait for a couple of minutes to get through to operator. It’s very scary.

Also depends what it's for how they'll triage it.

Nope! I had just told the first operator that I needed an ambulance and I was then put on hold

No the operator just stays with you. No discussion just reminders they are trying to put you through.

Okay, that is appalling. It definitely shouldn’t be occurring regularly.

I could totally understand that, but I hadn’t been able to speak to anyone first in order for them to triage

Yes it's common. I had to call 999 for the police recently and the call handler tried 3 different lines and escalated to a supervisor before finally getting through to police.

This was weekday daytime. Not even weekend drunken nights.

second time we needed the code for a defib

I'm a senior nurse in A&E. Earlier this week a patient walked in having a heart attack (classic chest pain etc).
They had called for an ambulance when the pain started at 7am to be told none available.
No ambulances for a (then suspected) heart attack at 7am in central london. Even I was shocked

Yes this is happening more and more often. Or calls are bounced to a different trust so, for instance London will be taking calls for wales. You can imagine the difficulties in getting accurate addresses.

I can't say too much but it's not uncommon for a very large area to have only one or two EMDs working on shift. Then there's urgent disconnect, where instead of staying on the line to help they leave to answer another call.

They're at breaking point, they hate knowing how long it takes to get through, and then how long it's going to take for an ambulance.
Hope you're ok OP

I had this recently when I called an ambulance for my mum. Never been on hold before when calling an ambulance, so I was a bit shocked at the time.
I guess it shows just how stretched the emergency services are right now. It’s a bit scary to think how vulnerable we are when an ambulance takes 4 hours to arrive for an elderly lady with severe chest pain.
Definitely can’t criticise the nhs staff at all. Myself, my mum and my son have all had hospital stays this year, and the nurses/doctors/paramedics have all been absolutely amazing.

My friends Mum had a heart attack a few weeks ago, her second one so she knew it was. She was told an hours wait minimum for an ambulance so my friend went and picked her up instead.

On Wednesday we had to phone for an ambulance for me
my son waited about ten minutes on hold,and we where told it would be a 3 hour wait for one to come to us
9 hours and 20 minutes later,it arrived and off we went
two and a half hours in a&e
i can’t fault the service we got-when it finally arrived-the paramedics and doctors where amazing

but to be left for over 9 hours,in agony,was a joke

@ChocHotolate it’s scary isn’t it.

I declined an ambulance this week and got taken to A&E. they saw me within 5 minutes. Very impressed. Obviously different team seeing walk ins than the ambulances. Some of which were still there 4/5 hours after I was discharged.

Is it for yourself or someone else. They will use mews scores to categorise priority
Can u check blood pressure or respiration rate
(Breaths per minute)
Consciousness level.

If u can tell some of this you may get higher up.
Fingers crossed u are ok

Depends on our emergency OP, but seems to be the norm now sadly!

I waited 50mins for a category 2 emergency when I suspected my elderly neighbour had a stroke. I'm a HCP, provided the pupil sizes, GCS, BP's, limb weakness/strength etc, yet it still took that long.

Please folks, if you can possibly transport yourself to hospital then do it.

We are currently saying 5-8 hour wait for heart attack and stroke symptoms, our ambulances are backed up at the ED

Depends on 'the' emergency, not our!!! Excuse typos!

This is terrifying to read. The one time I’ve had to call an ambulance we thought my toddler was choking. I can only imagine the utter panic for something urgent if you’re then out on hold…

Nope, NEWS score won't mean anything, neither will resps, O2 sats, BP etc.

There is a strict criteria that EMDs have to use to assess, they cannot deviate and are regularly audited to ensure it.

Watch ambulance on bbc iPlayer. You'll see what they're contending with.

Had this two weeks ago with my Nan who had had a stroke. Ambulance took 4 hours and we were told not to move her ourselves.

If you can possibly get to A&E yourselves or can safely drive loved ones, please do. It's absolutely terrifying at the moment.

@BorisIsATwat A lot less taxi drivers in our area now. Many quit during the lockdowns. Another consequence of that policy.