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.

999 isn't just to call an ambulance though is it?

It somebody was having a baby, even if I knew we were trapped in thick snow and an ambulance was unlikely to get there in time, I'd still call 999 because I'd hope they'd be able to talk me through what to do.

Ditto if somebody has fallen or is unconscious — it wouldn't just be the ambulance I wanted, it would be advice on how to safely help in the meantime.

I didn't think you're supposed to ring 111 in time-sensitive emergencies?

@Gilmorehill I'm glad you admit you didn't need the ambulance.

People who say they were forced to accept an ambulance - how? Twice it's been suggested I get one, once for me and one for Dd but we had a car and could go right away so I said no and that was it. I honestly don't understand how you can try and refuse and be made to have an ambulance.

A problem is that when you’re on the phone to 999 they strongly recommend you wait for the ambulance and do not attempt to travel. They repeat it over and over. Their advice was written back when an ambulance would be there within minutes.

Ugh system so broken 😭

I work in general practice, not a clinical role, but I read a lot of clinical post. This includes reports from the ambulance service. You would not believe some of the reasons people give the call handlers for why they've called. I wish I could say more on this but don't feel I can/should for obvious reasons of confidentiality. It's frequent too, I work for a large group of practices and every day there are probably about a handful of ridiculous ones. Just at our own practice group. Multiply that across the population and it's utterly ridiculous.

I've called for an ambulance a couple of times in the last year or so.

First was actually DH calling for me as I was suffering anaphylaxis and we were over 3 hours from the nearest hospital. A first responder arrived with a defib and the ambulance was about 30 minutes after and saved my life.

More recently I dislocated my knee and was told by 999 there was an 8 hour plus wait for an ambulance. I gritted my teeth and managed to pop my knee back in (not easily!) and was driven to A&e but had to wait alone due to covid restrictions. I was in a wheelchair in the waiting room for 9 hours during which time I passed out several times from the pain and had to rely on other patients to put me back in the wheelchair. One of the most harrowing experiences of my life. What is the nhs coming to.

I once rung 111 for an emergency out of hours appointment on a Saturday, I was having chest pains but it felt like really bad indigestion. They sent an ambulance which I said no to, I just wanted an emergency appointment as was painful! Paramedics turned up and said I needed to go to hospital, no problem i said, I’ll drive! Nope they wouldn’t let me! Got to the hospital and was rushed through. It was ok in the end and was just an infection in my lung lining but I really could have driven myself. They didn’t let me refuse.

I remember my son got his leg trapped in a climbing frame in a playground about nine years ago. He was trapped about 5ft up. Somebody else called 999 and didn't know whether to ask for an ambulance or fire brigade. Anyway, ambulance arrived in about 3 minutes and managed to free him before the fire brigade got there.

I do wonder how the 999 call handler categoried the call. Im guessing even though my son (age about 6) was fine it must have been cat 1. He was fine because me and some other women was holding his weight so he wasn't hanging from his leg.

In fairness it was right you had an ambulance. Chest pains could be anything from cardiac issues to pulmonary embolism. Our protocol is all chest pains attend hospital

Medical requirements will always come before any other service. It would definitely not have been a cat 1. That is for things like cardiac arrests and severe life threatening emergencies. It was just luck that one came so quickly tbh

If only GPS still did home visits, especially for very elderly people who might just need antibiotics, pretty sure ambulance callous would drop like a stone.

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 twisted my ankle last week. Tried to be stoic and keep going. Now have a broken foot. I need an x-ray, but can only access that through A&E. It is ok... I don't want to burden the NHS right now, and I can not spend 16 hours in A&E either (dog at home, and no one to look after them, also MH issues that sees me get sedated and put in a side room just for being in A&E... can't cope with it at all).

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

Some do, but it is pretty much office hours only.
Also, and this from personal experience, if you go to urgent care/minors with self inflicted wounds, they wont treat you. They insist you need a MH assessment in A&E.
Most minor injuries are accidental anyway. Why should anyone be paying £50 for that? What would having to pay actually achieve? Are you wanting to filter out poor people? Let them have a festering wound and infection at home instead?

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

They could be injured or in MH crisis. Being drunk leaves someone very vulnerable.

Non-necessary calls should not be taken to hospital

They aren't.

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

Then what do you suggest? That ambulance and police just ignore them? There is often a deeper issue going on when people are repeat callers/missing persons.
I was one. I was under a special police scheme (that is now defunct as it was causing more harm than helping).

My mum was on the floor for 5 hours today. My uncle went round and found her when I phoned him to tell him she was down (I’m 5 hours away) She couldn’t get up, so he called an ambo, which came in 30 minutes, amazing! He absolutely should not have just hauled her up to go to A&E-she has osteoporosis so moving her is tricky.

@Brigante9 and who suggested he should have hauled her up and taken her? 🙄 No one.

Well, I say he was ok, he was crying and myself and this other woman were struggling to hold his weight at that height. It would have been really bad if he'd been hanging by his leg. When he was freed though he was completely fine apart from a bit of bruising.

@XenoBitch you can request an X-ray through your gp as an urgent outpatient referral or go to a minor injuries unit

ADHD son likes to get himself into mischief regularly 😳🤦🏻‍♀️ I've always been able to transport him to minors. The triage nurses started to know him by name! I was mortified, I was convinced they were going to call the social at one point.

He's had stitches, sprains, knocked himself out. It takes me turning my back for 5minutes and he's done something he shouldn't have. Most accidents have occured because I've dared to have a shit on my own.

I was shocked to discover a neighbour had called an ambulance for her child who had a broken arm!! Wtf.

I've only ever been in an ambulance once and been to actual A and E once in my life. I was knocked over by a car when they mounted the curb taking a corner far too fast and I was the unlucky pedestrian in the way. Multiple rib fractures, severe concussion, dislocated hip. I obviously very luckily survived to tell the tale.

I now rank everything against that, if I can breath, get up, move, no chest pains I'll drive myself to minors. I don't go near the big A and E.

Friend who works for ambulance service keeps saying that 111 is their biggest offender.

Some of it is the questions used by 111, for example I have a chronic condition and I am a HCP. It causes agonising chest pain but is relatively harmless but unpleasant. Currently paying for a few days of bad decisions, the problem is I haven't managed to get a GP appointment to renew my repeat prescription. The over counter version is half the strength but takes the edge off it, sadly just taking two isn't an option.

Now I could ring 111 describe my diagnosis and symptoms (technically chest pain) to request an OOH appointment for the meds. By their algorithm it would generate a C1 ambulance, I will put up with it for the evening and try again tomorrow.

Now imagine I'm not a HCP and used to managing it. I ring 111 they say I need an ambulance are you going to argue with them?

It also comes down to individual people my dad broken his back yet walked into A&E.
Someone else might be in so much pain they can't even make it off the football pitch.

Believe it or not but chest pain is a cat 2

It depends on what’s wrong with you. I had been talking to the doctor and told him I had, had a bad angina attack and I had thought of phoning my husband to pick me up as at the time my spray was taking a while to work.
The doctor told me to phone an ambulance as he said if the worst happened how could my husband give me cpr and drive.
An ambulance would give me a higher chance of survival.
We do live rurally.

You just stick your car anywhere and tell them if it is an emergency. I had a v complex pregnancy I knew I had to deliver in a hospital far from me, al due to the NICU and the experience of staff with the condition of my child and I knew my child was unlikely to survive. At 33 weeks, I lost a chunk of mucussy stuff while having Braxton Hicks. I rang the prenatal advice number I was given and they said I should get to my local hospital asap, then they would assess and transfer me if necessary. I drove myself to the hospital. There were no spots anywhere to park in. I was afraid my contractions were real as they were rhythmic, I parked in one of the disabled places by the maternity unit (there were at least 20 free at 3 in the afternoon in a totally packed hospital). I went in and told them what I had done. They did not care. I was put on a monitoring thing and transferred via flashing ambulance about 30 mins after pulling in to the hospital. My car sat in that disabled spot until the following day as DH had to leave work, rush to be with me, go home to get stuff, go back to the city to leave stuff etc. In-laws got it the next day but it could quite easily have needed to sit a few days. The hospital has a system for recording the reg of cars in such circumstances. Never worry about parking if it is an emergency, especially if an ambulance will be hours but you could drive/get a lift. You can sort that bit out later if it is an emergency. If you can drive, do.

The reason the waits are that ling are the lack of staff, the lack of funding, and the lack of beds in the hospital and social care allowing patients to move along. It’s not that too many people with serious medical problems are using the services which are meant for them. Let’s not buy into blaming each other, and let’s just say who caused this.

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

Isn't a lost tampon something that needs urgent (and easily with the right tool) removal?

We have always been told not to go to hospital with a heart attack but to call an ambulance as you get quicker potentially life saving treatment. That has been official advice.

Absolutely an ambulance should be called because it’s a LIFE THREATENING MEDICAL EMERGENCY- This isn’t what this thread is about !