Is anybody prepping for the scenario of no ambulance being sent?

[ThereIbledit]

Bear with me, but one thing that scares me is being stuck without an ambulance and paramedics in scenarios during which you used to be able to rely on them. The horror stories are normal reality now, elderly people are being left on the floor with a broken hip for 12, 24, 36 hours before an ambulance arrives, heart attack and stroke an ambulance may arrive within 3-5 hours. Broken leg, they just aren't coming. Now I've broken my leg badly before, and there was fuck all way anybody was getting me off the floor without a stretcher and entonox gas, let alone sat upright in a car. I have elderly parents who it already takes two people to assist to get up if they have a fall - it may sound silly to you but I live in fear of them falling and breaking something, because I think the only way to get medical attention is going to be getting them into a car somehow.

My first aid certificate is out of date, but I'm still fairly confident in my abilities (and work will update my training on that soon). I know where the nearest 3 defibrillators are, how to access and use them. I encourage everybody to keep good stocks of their prescription medicine in, I got a bumper first aid kit for my car for Christmas. My question is more, what else should a prepper think about having in stock at home, that we can legally have, that we used to be able to rely on an ambulance for? I was thinking about getting some kind of splint(s) and/or stretcher, for moving a casualty into a car.

TLDR: has anybody else thought about and prepped for medical emergencies that you would have otherwise have relied on an ambulance for?

If you have elderly relatives, consider subscribing to the lifeline/alerts system. One of my relatives has it and it costs about £150 a year. He wears a pendant around his neck and they're great and very responsive for falls/bumps etc. He was once very poorly and I tried to help get him to the loo but he slipped and for the life of us, we couldn't get him on his feet. He wasn't hurt, just too weak and too heavy for me to move. Lifeline were there in 15 minutes and used an inflatable cushion to get him upright again. It gives you peace of mind too knowing there's a small local team of people who can come out quickly.

I quite often take myself off into the wilderness and I'm a nurse so I have an extensive first aid kit. The main addition I'd suggest is bleed control. I carry prefilled celox applicators for penetrating wounds and a military trauma kit for other wounds. And knowledge is key so an advanced first aid course would be really helpful too.

I'm prepped for my dd. She has a rare mast cell disease. Basically she can go into anaphylactic shock at any time from anything. We will think she's eating a safe food or touching a safe item then wham....we are jabbing her with an epi pen and praying the ambulance gets here quick.

Longest we've waited is twenty minutes. Without the two epi pens that we had to administer ten mins apart she'd be dead.

We've had to get our dd immunologist to do prescriptions for four epi pens at a time as our GP thinks one's enough. School have four too.

With the way things are with ambulances atm we are prepped to use our car instead of waiting. It's a 15 min journey but if we are told they cannot get to us before then we will pile her in (she's an ASD teenager so its not easy) and race there. If my dh isn't here with the car my sister isn't far away.

With falls, unless they have broken something (inside the house this isn't commonplace) they need picking back up, unfortunately paid carers often can't or won't, and not all have strong relatives or willing neighbours to help. Dp's dm subscribes to a service that sends people out to pick her up (used too much, but she won't move!).

I'm first aid trained and have taken people to the hospital in my big car (higher vehicles are easier to get people in)

I had this recently. I had an life threatening emergency related to a chronic condition. No ambulance available. I managed by luck alone to stabilise the situation and was driven to A&E. I grabbed my hospital emergency bag. But it was luck not skill that saved me. 8 hours later I was seen. Only because I managed to stabilise myself by luck.
I am in fear of it happening again and not being so lucky.
The NHS is fucked.

Yes, agree. Hard to keep up CPR as well for the possible lengths of time, but yes, both are important.

@shesabitofastrangeone Do Lifeline send somebody "official" out? I have had a look at what I think is their website and I couldn't see that as a service they offer. I'm aware of the type of alarm pendant that will ring either 999 or a neighbour/contact for you. Is this more than that?

@gogohmm Same question to you too, really. if so, please could you tell me the name of the company?

I am usually within reach of my parents if they have a fall, but I can't lift alone, and my neighbour who isn't always there has had to help me in the past. A professional back up service would be GREAT. (And yes to those who have advised it, I've had occupational health assessments for them, and they have had adjustments to the home as a result.

Thanks for all the answers, I wasn't expecting many! Some good suggestions to think about.

Haven't really prepped, but think I'll take onboard some ideas from this thread.

First aid kit always reviewed and restocked in autumn anyway and enough petrol for an emergency trip of any kind. Think I'll add some extra antihistamines and ensure we have enough cash for a taxi (not going to be cheap as our nearest A&E is now a 30min drive as local one was closed). Also, keep some telephone numbers to hand, especially thinking of two people we know who are nurses both in A&E, one on a high grade who we know drops everything if he's not working to help friends. I know it's too far to go for nearest defibrillator, just have to cope I've got the strength to do CPR for a while. Luckily work paid for in depth training for some of us recently - we were given a detailed manual, so am going to look that out.

Forgot to say, it's worth having some Aspirin in as it's often given to people having suspected heart attacks and a thinner for blood clots.

My husband is a sports coach and they’ve had to be supplied with extra foil blankets as sports injuries are at the bottom of the list. My husband had a horrific open fracture in 2020 and the ambulance didn’t take long thankfully but it was traumatic. To not have access to morphine or ket for hours is horrendous. They manipulated his arm back into place and he screamed like a baby. Usually it can be done under sedation but not enough staff and the gas and air didn’t touch it.

Its just frightening now isn’t it. I wonder if it will ever get better 😢.

DH is undergoing chemo at the mo and a couple of weeks ago was in such extreme pain he couldn't move from the floor of the bathroom. It was awful I have never seen him like it. I called the cancer nurses on the ward and they said to phone an ambulance as I couldn't move him myself (6ft 5, BIG guy). Ambulance said 6-8hrs wait for a callback when they would decide if they could send an ambulance or not. Or possibly I wouldn't even get a callback but they couldn't tell me either way. Baring in mind he has a mass on his spleen that is growing and in danger of causing his spleen to burst.

In the end I had to call my brother, who is a firefighter, living over 1 hour away to come and help me get him. Gave him extra morphine, including oramorph and eventually got him in.

My brother has recommended I invest in a soft sling thing that you can drag someone out of the house in (can't remember what it's called, they use it in the fire service). It's not exactly dignified but it's looking like I won't have a choice.

I was "lucky" in that my brother was able to help so you could argue that we weren't in need of an ambulance. But he had to travel 70odd miles to do so.

Slide sheets/transfer sheets are invaluable.
Used these on a regular basis when moving people that couldn’t be done safely due to their weight and health issues.

Someone mentioned latex gloves, please go for non latex. Many people have allergies to latex.

Also be fully up to date on other peoples medications and health issues due to various contras. It’s ok advising people to have for example ibuprofen and administering it, not everyone can safely have it.

@BiddyPop But you would need a number of people to be able to lift and carry a single immobile person safely.
I am a 55kg female working for the ambulance service and when me and my 45kg female colleague have to lift somebody, we just have to get on with it. We used to call another crew to assist but as you know there just aren't any. We sometimes use the fire service but we don't always have the luxury of waiting for them. Yes, my back is fucked.

Functional fitness to reduce risk and severity of falls, and finally got my elderly father to start doing some fitness exercises, basically sitting down/standing up to ensure he can get himself up if he falls.

sling/sheet carriers look useful. Any recommendations?

I have a first aid certificate but not sure it’s good for much past cuts and bruises. I thought CPR only kept body function going until defibrillation could be applied (except for heart stopping caused by drowning or in small children?). I’m not sure CpR can be used for hours and hours whilst waiting for a non existent ambulance.

@AnotherVice - I absolutely agree, sometimes you have to get on with it. But you have been trained in manual handling, lifting, and in careful transport of your patient. And have a proper stretcher/trolley to use.

What I was thinking of is where family members or neighbours are figuring out how to move someone, when they haven't been trained how to lift, don't have a proper stretcher and are not used to heavy lifting or carefully moving a person who is injured and needs to be kept as immobile as possible. So ideally you want 4 people (1 for each corner) rather than just 2 (1 at each end) - more chance of the other at your end managing to control a drop if it happens and to keep an eye on manoeuvres around corners or up/down steps etc.

That said, if I had DH or 1 particular DB available, I'd be happy to go it just as 2. Dd is strong as an ox but less inclined to listen to instructions or watch for obstacles. DPs are not up to it anymore. 2 DSis would be ok as part of 4 absolutely but wouldn't manage anything heavier than about a size 8-10 person as a pair. I'm used to hauling small boats around and have done manual handling training. But I was also thinking originally about my most likely scenario which involves a fairly long walk first with the stretchered patient, then clambering into an estate car with seats down to get them into it to transport.

But mostly I was thinking about the difference between trained professionals doing their job and untrained bystanders working together to figure out how to accomplish the same end goal, without the training or equipment.

Ds has epipens. One is out of date, but we have been told there’s a shortage so to keep as they are still valid until the clear liquid panel turns yellowy. So we only actually have one in date, and one out of date at home. He has 2 more at nursery which are running out soon I guess

If you can get the casualty safely to hospital in a car do so. Don’t hang around waiting for an ambulance.
DH had a stroke last year, as soon as I saw the signs I had my coat on and was ready to walk him to the car. Unfortunately he rapidly became immobile and DS and I were unable to get him to the car so I rang an ambulance. They arrived within 15mins and he was in A&E in under an hour from starting to feel dizzy. If despatch had given me an estimated time of over 30mins I would have moved heaven and earth to get him to A&E.
As a result he had the magic drugs (tPA) and made a very good recovery.
We are fortunate to have an AED at the end of the road and I have access to oxygen ( work is 5mins away). I’m also fully trained in resuscitation and can give a limited
number of drugs if necessary.
It all depends on the emergency.
I think the best preparedness is to update your skills or go on a CPR course regularly so you have the basic skill set.
Always keep a pack of dissolvable aspirin in the house in case of heart attack. Make sure you know how to deal with bleeding.
With a stroke speed really is of the essence, don’t wait to see if they recover.
Learn to be calm and how to stop everyone else panicking.
I was taught that even if someone has died in front of you it’s still worth having a go at CPR, you can’t make it any worse and in a small number of cases you can restart hearts with simple chest compressions.

In the last year I've developed a heart arrhythmia (lots of ectopic beats) and have been put on medication to control it (seems to be working so far!) I have, however asked DH to gen up on CPR and we are considering buying a defib machine as we live quite rurally. The nearest one is 5 minutes drive away. We've always been ones to drive to A&E if we need to go - have only rung an ambulance once in the 25yrs we've been together when I always haemorrhaging during a miscarriage - there was a queue for ambulance drop off even then (September 2015) and I ended up passing out in the handover queue of stretchers and being rushed through to resus.

This thread gave me the kick up the backside I needed to prep for no fire brigade. We've now got several types of fire extinguisher and some fire blankets, and I hope to buy an emergency escape ladder soon.

I'm a vet, with 3 teenage kids, and I have pretty much given up on the NHS.
If I can't diagnose/ treat I'd go to a&e. Even then, I'd glue my kids back together before burdening them.
It's got to the point where it is a joke. Wait hours for a call back, no actual physical exam ...
If you have a heart attack here (Scotland) you're in great hands. Anything else, no luck!

The police probably aren't coming either, what are we supposed to do if we're broken into? Tool up?

I can't believe how low our country has sunk in the last few years.

When we decided to have children this was a great country.

They haven't finished education yet and look at the flipping state of everything.

What happened?!