IMO a justified thread about a thread

[FabulousBakerGirl]

Why is it we are so nervous about calling an ambulance?

Should there be a campaign to tell us it is okay to do so when we feel we need it?

When my DD had a serious accident I went shouting to a neighbour and she called the ambulance. I wouldn't have thought to do it or even dared perhaps.

Maybe we hear too many stories about waste of time calls it makes us worried to call.

Not getting at, or making judgements on, anyone. I just think this is something that needs to change.

I am sad but not suprised that things dont seem to have changed Poppity.

I worked in A&E (non clinical job) and OH was a paramedic 10 years ago.

We had people ring ambulances for bee stings (NOT anaphalaxis), sprains and even 'to watch me go to sleep'.

Many,many parents called ambulances for their children. Often the children were not very ill but their parents thought they were. I do not recall one word of censure from anyone in the department. Children can become very ill very quickly. It is very frightening to have a sick child. Any HCP who criticises a genuinely concerned parent who calls 999 needs to take a small step back and think a while.

I nursed my terminally ill child for two years. I had to call an ambulance several times. Even though my child had cancer i still felt worried incase i was doing the wrong thing! As her illness progressed this feeling did wear off but it took a while.

The problem is, any public education programme would go right over the heads of those who abuse the system. they simply dont give a toss.

My experience was that the abusers came from all walks of life. Yes there were the 'shamless' sector but there were also a fair amount of 'I pay my taxes, I pay your wages' brigade. There were coked up bankers on 100k who snorted themselves into thinking they were having a heart attack and regulars who treated ambulances as a taxi service (often to meet their mates who were already up at the hosptial).

Just a quick thank you to the OP for starting this thread.

I read it last night - today I arrived to pick dd up at school sports club, and one of hte Mums was in labour. She was meant to have an elective next week, due to 2 emergency sections in past....and her cx went from every 3 minutes to every minute in the space of about ten minutes. Everyone else dithered about calling an ambulance, and without this thread I would have done too....as it was, I dialled immediately and they arrived just in time.

Phew

And, thanks.

We've called for an ambulance three times now.

First time DH was home alone with DS1 who careened headlong into the pebbledashed garage wall and gave himself a nasty gash. althoug he was fine, and it looked worse than it was the paramedics said he had done the right thing as you can't take a risk with children and head injuries. They glued DS's head and went on their way. I was a bit miffed with DH as I felt that he should have taken him to the GP first. But he panicked.

Second time I had gone to get DD out of bed and she had vomitted and was all limp and floppy and her breathing was really shallow. She also had a rash that I didn't need any glass to tell me it wasn't going to go when pressed. I got DS1 to go downstairs and get the phone and called 999 myself. It was the scariest moment of my life. Everything was well in the end and it turns out she was in shock due to fluid loss from the vomitting and the non blanching rash was a result of her violent vomitting.

Third time was when I had my first gall bladder attack where I seriously thought that I was dying . I called NHS Direct who put me thorugh to the ambulance service. Of course by the time they arrived I was feeling better and was convinced that I had wasted their time and that I had only had a case of trapped wind. I didn't go to hospital and felt really bad that they had come out to me when they could have been attending to someone more serious, even though they were insistent that they we were right toget them out.

I would hate to think that the call about DS1's head and my gallbladder meant that someone who really needed an ambulance to be there didn't get one on time

Thats the point, though, isn't it? They are qualified to tell us whether we need hospital, we're not.

I think you did the right thing - and am glad you're all ok

LackaDAISYCal, I have called an ambulance three times in my life - once when we witnessed a road accident and twice for DH's gall bladder attacks. We knew he wasn't having a heart attack but the pain was abominable - it's appalling to watch your husband rocking on the floor moaning in pain when you have no idea what's causing it (yes, I know he watched me in labour 3 times, but he knew what was causing that ). Do not minimise your experience. They took DH into hospital both times to make sure as he didn't have a definitive diagnosis.

I also remember when I was pg with DD1, my DH doesn't drive and my mum was coming to stay with us to take me to hospital. At a party, some friends were drunkenly arranging who would be 'on call' for me if the baby arrived before mum did. My friend's surgeon DH (who was also sober) quietly said to me "Or you could forget about this drunken rabble and call an ambulance - that's what they are there for...."

Elibean - hope your friend is OK now.

I've been doing some work with some experts in urgent care who say there is a very strong case for health professionals treating children as a priority - not necessarily shoving everyone else to the back of a theoretical queue but being assessed rapidly.

Several reasons but one of the ones I hadn't realised was that the condition of a sick child can change very rapidly. So a 'wait and see' approach might well be justified at the time, but then half an hour later the situation might be very different.

thanks....but as others have said on this thread, it's a really difficult judgement call to make.

Thankfully my gallbladder is now out!!

SO is DH's - and the sporadic back pains he used to get (which kept him up all night at times) have also disappeared, so his gall bladder must have been rumbling on for a while!

Poledra Reminds me of being at a do with lots of doctors on my due date with ds (who was showing no signs of putting in an appearance any time soon). People kept smiling at me until they saw the belly, then turing pale and walking away backwards going 'oh, um, it's been 20 years since I did any obstetrics, if anything happens I'd call an ambulance if I were you'!

DD gets asthma when she's ill. Called the GP and he said that she could wait for an afternoon appt. Took her in and he called an ambulance . He said the scary thing is that she looks deceptively well, but oxygen levels scary low.

Last month, put DS to bed and about an hour later heard that scream that makes mothers run up 3 flights of stairs. DS was choking on his vomit. DP called an ambulance and it seemed they took an hour. Apparently only 3 minutes, but felt forever. The ambulance driver said they were quite relieved that when they arrived, DS was screaming! A quiet child = bad. Screaming child = good. Still had to go to Children's Hospital anyway (and stayed for ages, but that's another story)

Can't think of anyone in medical profession who has ever said, or inferred it was silly to call 999.

(I kept having to reassure all the doctors that actually I was due to have ds at St Thomas's, that big hospital just over there, look, you can see it from here, really don't panic, I'm sure I can get there before you have to do anything, honest...)

remember ds getting a nasty virus about 2y ago, went into check on him and he was boiling hot, floppy and unresponsive. called an ambulance straight away and they were with us in 2 mins. kept apologising to the driver though

edam, I was at an off-site work meeting with a load of psychiatrists when heavily pg with DD1 - they said they could ask me how I felt about it if anything started happening

I'm not nervous about it. I have called once for DS in my lifetime - for suspected meningitis (just a rash that coincided with a fever, bless him). A few weeks ago he had a massive fall but I'm pretty good with medical stuff (for a lay person) so I knew an ambulance wasn't necessary.

I suppose it's because I was brought up by a nurse (who taught me loads about health) and so have a certain amount of inbuilt medical nous/ confidence. If I believe something is wrong with DS's health I will call whoever I need to call or push my gp or do whatever is necesary to get the right treatment.

ilovemydogandMrObama - DS's oxygen levels were down to 40% and plummeting when he got to the hospital its scary isnt it!

I had to make the call to dp to tell him it was urgent i didn't tell him at that point that we were close to loosing ds1 but i was hysterical down the phone to his boss who transfered me strieght over to dp he arrived in minutes to the hospital on a journey that should have taken about 20 mins.

I have called ambulances for my mum many times before even as a child but she has a bad heart condition and she has always very obviously needed one, i.e most times she is coughing up copius amounts of blood and not breathing. Funnily enough i was/am always so level headed about it and just do it with no tears or panic but with the kids i just seem to melt down.

It still haunts me knowing how close we were to loosing ds and knowing it probably wouldn't have got that bad if i had called earlier, i remeber the paramedic was a lady who was just holding me because i was sobbing, she knew what was waiting for us a the hospital (10 Peadiatric specialists and a resus team)

Elibean Is the Mum and baby okay?

Are the baby and mum okay?

Lost the ability to think in the shock of doing a good useful thread!

Chegirl, so sorry for your loss.
I've been a paramedic for 16 years, and demand has changed dramatically in that time. In my experience, the 'shameless' sector, and other forms of social issues have overtaken everything else. I would be interested to see statistics, but I don't think they are available.
It was always there, as were the 'I pay my taxes' bunch, but it is the former that seems to have increased disproportionately.
There are really good points here, I too think there should be more help for the public who actually take notice of public info stuff, to know when it is ok to call an ambulance. It seems to be the same part of society bearing the guilt for those who don't care again.
I think it's true that there is an unwillingness in many of us(me included when at home!) to admit the situation might be serious- it seems so dramatic to call an ambulance. Before I joined, I assumed you didn't call one unless someone was mortally wounded etc.
The things that ambulance staff do get fed up with tend to be alcohol related (anyone been watching The Hospital?), and people who are doing nothing to help themselves when they are perfectly able to. I could open up a whole new pustule re the Nanny State, but I think I'm sounding far too right wing so I'll leave it there

Poledra, how very helpful of them!

The only time when I have called one was when dd banged her head and went very confused and disorientated. We were on an island, so I knew it would take a long time to get her looked at, not really a situation where you want to hang about. They had to carry her over the rocks and divert the ferry to take the ambulance. No serious damage done, though suspected concussion.

NHS direct called a paramedic for us when she had a breathing attack some time ago; they heard her on the phone and thought it sounded like asthma, turned out to be hyperventilating. Felt quite embarrassed when the paramedic turned up at our door in a bullet proof vest. But we have really had quite a lot of experience of her hyperventilating and this was one time where we just couldn't get the better of it. She wasn't hysterical or frightened; it's laughing that sets her off, but for once she wasn't able to get her breathing under control.

Yes, the baby was given antibiotics for suspected tonsilitis and they returned home.

poppity

Dont know how you have stuck it out so long. I dont think me and OH realised just what a 'difficult' job it was until he left. It changed our family dynamic dramatically IYSWIM. He loved the job for years but towards the end the spitting, punching being called a N**r bastard etc was beginning to get to him. That bloody panorama programme was just about the last straw. Seems Firemen, Nurses, Doctors are Heros and Angels in the media but Paramedics are lazy, glorified taxi drivers.

It is interesting what you say about the shamless contingent taking over. I am about as left wing as they come but I dont think its a subject that should be avoided. Its the generalised sense of entitlement that causes such misery and deprivation in the long run. But I guess thats another thread.

My abiding memory of working in A&E for 6 years was alchohol (not mine). It seemed like every other patient was pissed or had been hit, raped or abused by someone who was pissed. There were kids of drinkers who were injured or sick. 30 year olds who looked 60 and were throwing up blood. Regulars trying to get booked in for drying out and waiting hours and hours to see a psych. Teenagers wanting the morning after pill or having their stomachs pumped. I could go on (and on).

I can still spot a drinker a mile off. So many ruined lives.

The hospital was in a pretty rough part of London so I suppose things were concentrated somewhat. There was an awful lot of drugs and mental illness too.

Good luck to you Poppity. I am a lifelong fan of paramedics

Edam and Fabulous, thanks, yes, she is fine. Her baby was born by emergency cs an hour after the ambulance arrived at the school - so I clearly made a good call! Which again, I thank you all for. She was busy saying 'oh no, I don't want to bother an ambulance' and everyone else was unsure, and I may well have been too - without you lot.

Or so goes my justification for MNing again when I should be tidying up/getting some sleep

Paramedics are fab

End of

I called 999 just last week, when my mum collapsed with a suspected heart attack. The paramedics were fabulous. Actually, I have to say that I've never met a paramedic I didn't like.