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.

My dad fell and badly broke wrist, bruised hip and cracked head slipping on ice. Not wanting to 'worry' me he phoned taxi

he was worried as recorded message on taxi phone queue saying 'very long wait for taxis could be up to an hour'

when he got through and they heard the destination was the hospital he was told taxi is on its way. Apparently they do prioritise these calls. Taxi dropped him off in (the not emergency) ambulance bay and he was triaged straight away

appreciate not everyone can afford taxis but it worked for him

I'm not I'm stating we had better options to express unhappiness with conditions that did not cause the harm it did today

Until maybe 3 years ago I didn't have a payrise for years as I was top of my band.

I do this job to help & care, but that isn't going to pay my bills & feed my children is it?

@Tiani4 what better options?

Some callers call up to 200 times a day!! I have worked for the ambulance service in different roles and the amount of time wasters/hyperchondriacs is absolutely unbelievable!

Do you want that person to hop to hospital? People carried me to the side of the street and called an ambulance when I did that. How did you want me to handle it? How would I have got in a cab?

I fainted as well but I imagine a lot of people do after breaking a bone.

and I was on a trolley and had to use a bedpan.

luckily everyone involved was completely fine about it.

Well obviously you weren't able to mobilise yourself...

Some people do break ankles/wrists etc and are able to get to hospital without an ambulance if you can't then obviously it's not unreasonable but then you're clearly not the people I'm talking about.

My DD is an AHP (not on strike) no one was left in pain or harm as a result of strike action.... (though it does happen each and every day with no strikes) discharges happened, patients looked after...AE functioned & handover times actually improved.

The unions want a deal...or collective bargaining... they want to talk but Barclay refuses.

So here we are.. sounds like your trust did not talk to the Unions at all.

Look you have absolutely every right to disagree with me. There were so many other options a reduction of service and only attending high priority cases. I have been dealt with the incredible pain that has been caused by todays strike action. It was a blanket strike which imho was the wrong move. You suggest what could have been done better as it hurt our patients our community of vulnerable incredibly unwell people, those that didn't really need an ambulance got them selves to a&e anyway. Those that needed ambulances and stretchers as soon vulnerable and unwell going into hospices or a&e for the most serious illnesses or those about to die, well they won't complain as they cannot - they'll be dead soon enough without any voice to say what a terrible action this was today.

I don’t really know why people think anecdotal stories about the times they have called an ambulance refute the claims of people who actually work as call handlers. Just because you only call an ambulance when you need one doesn’t mean everyone else does.

@Alexandra2001
That is absolutely 100% not true
No urgent hospice admissions today as no paramedics as on strike

It's not my healthcare trust it is national strike

@Tiani4 You are making stuff up.. there was no blanket strike as well you know.

@ilovesooty so they have asked for a 20% increase, almost double inflation. If the govt caves in to stop people dying as a result of their selfish strike, then guess what every single union in the country will strike until they also get 20% and guess who pays for it, us the taxpayers.

very telling!

You are mistaken
that is 100% untrue
We have had no paramedics no ambulances today
You may have but we haven't

It's not caving it's paying us (healthcare professionals) what we and many other public sector works deserve!

I would happily pay more tax if the government closed all the loopholes and stopped giving their very rich friends hand outs.

It's so corrupt and we as the general population are suffering.

And we are facing a rebound effect for next few days
It was a national union that out strike in place today

And where in the UK was this?

RCN etc have said to Barclay, talk pay, negotiate and we will call off strikes.

Do you know what negotiate means?

OP sorry if being thick
who can mobilise themselves with a broken ankle? Is there a type of ankle break where you could weight bear?

@Vwswimmer1 well, I'm sure everyone in the country thinks they deserve a 20% pay rise, but we don't moan about it and put lives at risk.

So if someone has a broken ankle and nobody else to drive them, what do they do?

The context matters, surely.

I've had 111 tell me I need an ambulance for my children for ridiculous reasons and declined it.

But, when one child as a baby had serious breathing difficulties and I called an ambulance, it took 1.5 HOURS to arrive. Utterly negligent. She almost died.

I called an ambulance when I fell and cut my leg so many on here you will say I shouldn't of
But i cut down to the bone and about 8 inches across , there was blood but maybe not as much as expected.
I couldn't drive and I tried my dh at work but hes out and about so no answer , other family members away.
I was also in major shock , when I called them I explained that I wasn't sure if warranted , they said they thought it was. I apologised to the paramedics when they came , they said it was fine i shouldn't walk on it so ambulance best way.
But as many describe it as just a cut I heard people say i didn't need it., so whilst there are some who call and don't need it, sometimes you hear others complaining about those that have used it and its only half the story.

I, like others, feel that 111/999 triaging seems to have a low threshold for sending an ambulance out. I'm sure they'd rather have a high false positive rate. The problem is if ambulances are sent to non-emergencies those in real need have to wait even longer, especially when paras cannot handover their patients in a timely manner.

Additionally there is a real lack of education in the general public as to where to access medical treatment for different ailments. Healthcare practitioners don't seem to be willing/allowed to tell people they should have gone to a pharmacy/waited for a GP appointment etc...

You hop on one leg
That's what I did anyway. Hopped to the car, driven to hospital, broken ankle and foot, snapped ligaments