To think most people who phone for an ambulance could make their own way to hospital?

[fillmeup]

Either by getting family or friends to drive them there or getting a taxi. Obviously if you’re on the floor with a broken hip etc and can’t be moved or had a severe stroke an ambulance is required but most people I’ve heard on the news recently talking about how long they have waited, I’ve seriously wondered why they waited 20 hours (or thereabouts) and didn’t just get a lift.

Unfortunately many people in society these days believe that calling an ambulance for something trivial or if they can't be bothered to get there themselves is a given right for them to demand and be given.

I called 999 last year as I thought I was dying. Turns out it was a panic attack, and I did try and cancel it, but they showed up anyway. Lovely paramedic and student (I was her first ever patient). Did some basic obs and reassured me. No need for hospital. Not every ambulance that attends someone takes them to hospital. The more advanced paramedics can even stitch wounds in your own home.

The long waits now are because people are not getting discharged or moved on from A&E, so people can not be admitted, so the paramedics can not move on to their next job.

@BabyOnBoard90 are you being serious??? Phone an ambulance because you can’t afford parking? 🤬🤬🤬

Unfortunately there remains a widespread belief that going in an ambulance means you get seen quicker and that’s often why people do it 🤷‍♀️

A few years (perhaps a decade) ago they used to have medics in cars that attended first before they sent an ambulance. Do they not have enough staff for that nowadays?

And if we are driven to the hospital @fillmeup what then? We wait 15 hours because the staff are so overworked they cannot see everyone? The average waiting time I A@E is four hours. If
you've had a sroke/heartattack/asthma exacipation, what good is that? And if you do get an ambulance, you may be waiting in it for twelve hours.. So it's not ambulances that are the issue, it's lack of nursing care. Brought about by 13 years of underfunding.

and don't even get me started on social care, or fucking lack of it, that is also caused by chronic underfunding. And so it goes on.

40k civil servants using food banks, 45k of them on working tax credits? It's a disgrace.

@ThreeFeetTall

With all due respect I’m sure a fit and healthy 14 year old could hop to the car with support on either side.

I’m so deflated with the ambulance service, really dont enjoy it any more :( we’re more urgent care than emergency care. 90% of the people we go to don’t need hospital let alone an ambulance !
a lot of times we’ll assess and say yes they may need hospital, but they need to make their own way as they don’t require an ambulance. They certainly won’t be seen any quicker by ambulance (unless they are prealerted into resus)
111 sends ambulances at the drop of the hat. GPs and other HCP use us inappropriately. And then we have the regulars who can phone multiple times a day !
not sure what the answer is :( but genuine callers with genuine life threatening emergencies potentially wait longer as we’re dealing with absolute bullshit

We don't drive, we have no friends or family and the taxis here are notoriously unreliable. If any of us needed to get to hospital urgently, we'd have no choice but to call (and wait for) an ambulance.

111 once insisted on sending an ambulance. I said I thought it unnecessary but ultimately didn't want to go against their judgement with a baby involved.

My husband drive me to hospital when the midwife suggested 999, because we were close by (not labour but a greater emergency!). The hardest thing was waiting alone in the car in agony whilst he found a wheelchair.

At my nearest hospital now, I often wait 15 minutes to park. And then it's a 5 minutes walk to A&E I'd guess. Not sure what you're meant to do if there's someone in the car with a desperate emergency?

In addition I find it soul destroying at the number of threads on here about the ambulance service and derogatory comments, we work so so hard and it’s not us on the frontlines fault it’s broken :(:(

@FriedasCarLoad most A&Es have a drop off right by the door and then u go and park. Obviously not ideal with a child but dh and I have both done it.

Got chatting to a paramedic from West Midlands AS when they were called to a wedding I was working. When I suggested that 50% of their blue light calls weren't emergencies (based on the documentary series) she informed me that it is closer to 90%

90% of "emergency calls" do NOT require an emergency ambulance.

I see this figure is the same as quoted higher up....

Oh, and this call out was drink related...

Yanbu. I've been sent an ambulance once because I had what they thought was a dislocated hip and couldn't move.

111 offered to send an ambulance for dd when she was a baby when they heard her croup breathing but I just drove her in instead because it was quicker tbh. Obviously if I couldn't drive I'd have accepted their offer.

However I know a lot of people who have called them for broken bones such as arms (not talking open fracture etc) or for vomiting etc.

Of course not all people and all injuries / illnesses can be dealt with without an ambulance but it's definitely a misused service.

I've been watching programmes about ambulance calls and police calls and A and E departments, late at night because I am not sleeping well and there are lots of them on TV.

I'm amazed at how many people call 999 totally unnecessarily. Last night there was a young woman called an ambulance saying she'd collapsed in the street and couldn't breathe. She clearly could breathe when they arrived, all her checks were normal and it turned out she had a cut on her head, had been drinking and had walked out if A and E half an hour earlier having already called an ambulance. They took her back again to get checked and found she had called an ambulance more than 400 times in the last year. She actually died a few days later at home (unrelated).

Another man rang 999 said he was suicidal, had tried to commit suicide and had a bomb. Refused to speak on the phone- was using a text type system made for deaf people. A whole emergency response was put in place- police, fire, ambulance, bomb squad. Looked like they would have to evacuate a hospital next door to his home. It turned out to not be true. He was a resident in an adult supported living facility- which the 999 emergency call manager noticed. They rang the place and the carer on duty checked him- no bomb, no suicide attempt.

A youngish woman (students) rang to say her boyfriend was very drunk and had vomited blood.Ambulance sent- not very drunk (4 drinks) said he had been sick but no blood. All checks normal. Refused to go to hospital.

Man about mid 30s, mental health problems. 31st call from him in 3 weeks. Had fallen at home. Uninjured but clearly drunk and upset. Refused to go to hospital after chat with staff from ambulance.

Woman with asthma - numerous calls every week. Staff gave her a nebuliser and she was fine. Didn't need to go to hospital.

There are many who do need the ambulance- chest pains, serious falls and clearly injured, often frail and elderly and alone or with partner also frail and elderly, very sick people with known, serious conditions, children with worrying symptoms, RTAs.

Then there are many who turn up at A and E and have trivial injuries- cuts that don't even require stitching, or twisted ankle 3 days ago and it's still sore, sore throats, lost tampons, their bad back medication isn't working or are just absolutely drunk or on drugs and aggressive.

I think every A and E should have a minor injuries unit and people should be diverted to it by nurse as they arrive at A and E. There should be a £50 charge for the clinic. The people do not need to be at a hospital and should not have gone- so if they stay for treatment they should pay.

I also think we need to be stricter about sending out ambulances. They are for potentially life-threatening injuries/illnesses or conditions or times when moving someone could be dangerous.

I also wondered about on duty nurse teams locally who go out to some of the elderly callers. Often they need assessment/ reassurance/ nebulisers/ pain medication and don't actually need/want to go to hospital. They ring 999 because they are scared.

Drunks should not be allowed into A and E or collected by ambulances.

Non-necessary calls should not be taken to hospital.

Mental health issues seem to result in massive use of police and ambulance staff. In the last two series of the police teams who deal with missing people- at least 50% of cases are mental health cases, people who regularly go off threatening to commit suicide, or upset, or drunk and depressed, or are vulnerable and the use of police and ambulance resources is huge with rarely an outcome that is not simply repeated again within days or weeks. The other two big user groups of police missing persons teams are dementia sufferers who get lost.

Police or ambulance and A and E are rarely the solution even that night. There is no access to appropriate resources so they become the service called-out. Again, it would seem better services for the elderly with dementia and for those with mental health would actually improve things.

you see it would never have dawned on me to call an ambulance in this situation. I am sure you and your husband could have given him a piggy back or a passerby could have helped do that or as like you said, your husband managed to drive there anyway. No wonder there is a shortage of ambulances!

I remember flying down the dual carriageway to get my husband back to the hospital, post surgery complication. On arrival we had to wait because he hadn't come by ambulance. A guy arrived in an ambulance complaining he was missing Corrie. Kicked up a fuss. Diagnosis sprained thumb.

All this whilst my OH was rolling on a gurney in agony.

With my children I've seen drunks, addicts causing problems. Police escorting prisoners. A huge guy threatened a tiny nurse.

OH said that they should have shipping container in the car park with slatted seating for the drunks. Let them sleep it off throw them out then pressure wash it down with a strong disinfectant solution

Totally agree. Particularly some of the calls you see on programs like Ambulance. But we've had some really tragic cases in my hospital recently, where the parents have driven their child to hospital when they were choking, or in peri arrest.

@justasking that was poor triaging - there’s no priority for ambulance admissions I assure you.

If you have ever watched any of the ‘emergency’ type programs, you will have seen how frequently ambulances are sent to people who have collapsed on the street due to alcohol or drug abuse.
People need to take more responsibility for their health, as this situation will only get worse.

I got told off (politely, but clearly the Dr thought I was an idiot) when I drove myself to A&E in the midst of a gallbladder attack, it was a 5 minute drive, I had to pull over twice to vomit but it was 3am Sunday morning, there were no taxis available, my husband doesn't drive, I have no family or friends I could have called for a lift (literally none, my parents are both dead, most of my friends don't drive, the ones that do are out of town and in my in laws were away).

I probably should have called an ambulance but I just don't think I could call one unless I was actually completely immobile or dying. Turns out I just had a severely infected gallbladder requiring urgent surgery, 5 days of IV antibiotics and lots of morphine, so perfectly fine 😂

This !! This is part of the reason we’re screwed. This is NOT a reason to call an ambulance!! And the reason it was cancelled. We would have driven at normal road speed, it would be a very low priority call so you would have waited hours. We dont carry off roading equipment so all we would have done would be help you assist him to walk to your own car…..

YANBU. The amount of people who come in by ambulance for a non life threatening reason and then then the family follow in the car behind 🤷🏼‍♀️

My housemate at uni phoned an ambulance because she hurt her ankle the night before at a club... was fine the day after

I agree. I wouldn’t have called an ambulance for that either.

Calling for an ambulance isn't just about conveyance to a & e. Paramedics medically assess you to see if you need immediate treatment. It seems you are at fault whichever decision you make. Dragging someone to wait hours in a waiting room or wait at home. People panic and rely on the safety net of 999 in times of need. Ambulances are more than taxi's you rely on the arrival and medical care of the paramedic.