To think most people probably don't need an ambulance...

[Vwswimmer1]

Just that really. Also so many people that don't realise you still get triaged in an ambulance and can end up in the waiting room with everyone else...

Obviously not about people who can't mobilise or people or genuinely need one but the amount of stories I heard of people calling ambulances when they really don't need to.

Unfortunately carers, nursing homes, residential homes etc. normally have a "no lift" policy. So they call an ambulance to lift their patients off the floor.

Exactly this!! Unless you're completely unable to mobilise yourself, open/unstable fracture etc then you don't need treatment until you arrive at A&E

I have to admit it annoyed me when my sil and bil used and ambulance for their baby (ok I know they are first time parents and clearly more anxious) but their baby had a bad cold, and he had a lump on his neck...its was a swollen gland clearly from what I could see. They rung an ambulance that night because he has congested and coughing (they said choking on mucus) and was told they would have to wait a few hours or they could go into the walk in centre so they decided to get some sleep wait for an ambulance. They both drive. Got told to give baby Calpol, saline drops the usual things they were already doing. It annoyed me because it's a waste of NHS money and I know they do it again when he is ill.

Unless you have access to a nationwide database with all the reasons people call ambulances then I don't think you can make the statement 'most people'.

I have phoned for an ambulance four times - twice for relatives who were having suspected heart attacks, once for a person having a prolonged grand mal seizure and another time for someone who'd had a nasty fall and couldn't move.

I am pretty sure that most of my friends and family would only ever call for one in an actual emergency.

Yep I agree OP. I work in a busy hospital and could say the same about people using A&E in general. And this applied long before before Covid as well so can't be blamed on the GP's.

I spoke to 111 last week in relation to an injury. Granted there was a concern that it could escalate with the potential for paralysis, but the call handler was absolutely adamant that an ambulance attend to convey me to hospital.

Despite pointing out I live a 3 minute drive away from the hospital and that my husband would get up and drive me, she was still adamant. It was only after further conversation when I pointed out that I would be at hospital before the crew had even got into the ambulance, that she reluctantly agreed.

I agree, I hope today has made people realise that they can probably manage without going into A&E; but I also hope it hasn’t stopped the older people having heart attacks/ strokes from calling when they actually need one!

Okay, the majority of people then? I don't have access to a database but I do work in a hospital and see the patients BIBA.

Obviously it depends on the situation in all cases, even for a suspected heart attack if the person lived next to the hospital it would make more sense to make their own way there but obviously a call handler would never suggested this.

I think your second point is very pertinent. People think they will be seen more quickly if the arrive by ambulance. They don't realise they will be triaged in the same way as someone who walks in.

This! ⬆️⬆️

We have a neighbour who has MH difficulties and on a fairly frequent basis rings 999 saying he's suicidal. This usually ends up with an ambulance and a police visit but he's actually told us that he does it when he's lonely or he's had a few drinks. We've told him to ring us instead but so far that's not happened.

I think the whole system needs a total rethink. Some countries have mobile mental health practitioners who attend scenes like this. With some proper innovation and restructure, the whole system could be revitalised. I doubt that would ever happen with current gov though.

I agree OP. Everything people have been told today - i.e only call in an emergency, make your own way to hospital if you can - should apply everyday. This is the problem

👏👏👏 absolutely this! Go back a few years and you'd even get people on here giving advice on 'what to say to get an ambulance when you call them usually.. tell then lips going blue/crushing chest pain' etc etc!

I want to know where you're finding taxis or public transport that will take obviously ill/injured passengers. Most companies don't want the potential mess/liability.

Since there isn't an inbetween service for people who are too unwell to walk/drive themselves to hospital but don't need the full ambulance/paramedic response, people haven't got a choice but to go with overreaction.

I agree op , I was saying to DH paramedics are responding to emergencies, surely that's what they are for 🤷‍♀️ if you can make your own way to hospital you should.

The govt love when you blame all those bad other people, it really takes the heat off them.
the nhs is struggling, not because it’s systematically underfunded by a govt who will benefit from it being privatised, but because of all those nasty people who call ambulances when they shouldn’t.

quite obviously people shouldn’t call ambulances they don’t need, but I doubt very much that that is the thing that’s caused the situation we’re in now, and discussing it really puts the blame back on the public and not the govt who created the mess.

And then you get the 'horror' stories of someone who waited 10 hours for an ambulance before deciding to make their own way to hospital - if they were well enough to do that, why didn't they make their own way to hospital at the very beginning 🙄

Of course they don't, most of them don't need to go to A&E either, maybe if there was a charge that would focus people's minds better

There are good reasons not to get a taxi in this instance. Can you be resuscitated in a taxi? Will the taxi understand that turning up could be a matter of life or death? Can the hospital be advised of your arrival if your situation worsens suddenly and the siren turned on? No. You're also presuming there is money for the fare to hand, or a driver and someone to help the patient through the car park which is a very privileged mind set.

I do agree with what you're saying.

I hate the current government and what they're doing to the NHS and I fully support all the strikes. However I do also think we need to take some responsibility ourselves, even if we had an excellently run health service I'd still think people should only call ambulances when they absolutely needed it.

Also, take anaphylactic shock seriously. You wouldn't be doing the a and e department any favours if you turned up as an emergency. You realise it can worsen very quickly and a taxi doesn't carry the necessary medications to help?

Back in the 60s and 70s we always drove to A&E unless unable to physically move. The culture of the day was to be as self sufficient as possible. Also the GP would call round or meet us at the local cottage hospital.

The ambulance documentaries that on tv a lot show that there are people dialling 999 for things that, in earlier years, would have resulted in a family member driving the patient to be seen despite living close to an ED.

Our local A&E was downgraded to urgent care. Unfortunately the nearest is 17 miles of county lanes through a forest with deer in the road. Where I live there is no public transport to A&E and a taxi costs £50 each way, £60 after midnight, so it's hardly surprising that people call for an ambulance.

We need easily accessible emergency care with public transport that's affordable, taxis that don't charge the earth and let ambulance personnel deal with incidents that require their skills.

Oh god. Don't even know how my thread has become infiltrated with this shit.

Your view is absolutely disgusting and you should be ashamed to think like this.

111 have directed ambulances to us three times. Every time it was more inconvenient as it meant days of being stranded in hospital without a way of getting home but they insist.
The last time they sent an ambulance I apologised and the paramedic said it was part of their job, there aren't enough true 'emergencies' to keep them busy otherwise. Maybe different rules because it was pregnancy/baby related.

I can see why people resort to it. Last time I called both go and 111 for infant projectile and massive fever they said they'd call back. It took two days. I'm lucky because I live with someone who has a medical background so asked their advice but otherwise I may have clogged up a and e or even an ambulance.

@pinheadlarry I don't know about that. My "D"M was born here and calls ambulances she absolutely doesn't need several times a year. I could write paragraphs on the NHS resources she wastes too through being stubborn/refusing to take medication/ignoring medical advice. I'm furious with her for doing it and for my DF for facilitating it.

I doubt she's the only one...