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Original poster

Ambulance

142 replies

purpleme12 · 27/04/2019 00:52

Anyone watch?
Such an affecting programme
I felt so bad for the old woman when she was scared
But couldn't understand why she didn't go get hearing aids it would have improved her quality of life so much

OP posts:
SunshineCake · 05/05/2019 18:55

PMK as I've realised I read on past what I've seen.

Toddlerteaplease · 05/05/2019 21:36

Catching up on ambulance Australia. Their system doesn't seem anywhere near as pressured as ours.

polarisation · 05/05/2019 23:19

Just catching up with the hotel episode... I couldn't tell if they were all just extraordinarily calm or if they were a bit relaxed about her possibly haemmoraging? I'd have thought they'd have taken her in sooner but probably it was the editing made it feel like a longer time than it really was.

What really got me was in the ambulance, when she told the paramedic the baby's name - it seemed to me that she thought she might not make it and she wanted someone to know the name Sad. I teared up at that! So glad she was ok!

user1474894224 · 06/05/2019 12:24

I always cry at some point in the programme. I thought that too ....if she dies they are going to have to tell the dad the baby's name. Blubbed like a baby myself.

userxx · 06/05/2019 12:31

@polarisation I think they were being calm as not to panic her.

Yubaba · 09/05/2019 21:16

Anyone watching tonight?

Mumof1andacat · 09/05/2019 21:26

Me. Love it

CoolCarrie · 09/05/2019 21:29

Me too, that first call was shocking, the poor woman and that poor soul who took the call, he said that was the second time he had had a call like that. Awful.

Moonflower12 · 09/05/2019 21:40

I find it shocking that the controllers can walk away and go and process the call etc. but if you're the paramedic you actually witness the event but aren't allowed to clock off etc but are expected to go immediately to your next job.

I'm not saying it's wrong that the controllers get to have time to deal with it but that it's wrong that the paramedics don't iyswim.

YesQueen · 09/05/2019 21:48

@Moonflower12 a lot of the time it's because you can't process it as a call handler. You hear everything and see nothing and a lot of paramedics agree that's harder
On the scene you have more time, you are processing things there, on the way to hospital and can chat to your crew mate
As a call handler, you have 5 seconds before another call comes through
For any really traumatic incidents, there will be a debrief for paramedics and they can be stood down
So a call handler takes a call, has 5 seconds to process it and then takes another 100+ calls. Whereas the paramedics might be dealing with the call for an hour or two so it gives them more time IYSWIM

Moonflower12 · 09/05/2019 21:58

@YesQueen
I do see what you mean. Maybe so. I think they all should be able to debrief.

My DP is a paramedic and they are very rarely stood down. He has been to some truly horrific episodes that still haunt him many years later and was expected to be back on to the next job immediately.
Perhaps it varies from Trust to Trust, their policy on being stood down?

YesQueen · 09/05/2019 22:05

I think it definitely varies and also there's pressure - both from the amount of calls waiting and they feel guilty not going to jobs and pressure from above to get back on the road. Plus no paramedic is going to leave a cardiac arrest call waiting while they debrief, they will just go back out. Obviously the answer is more paramedics but then you need more ambulances, more staff in a&e, more hospital beds and on and on...

There's been call recordings where you could hear me sobbing at the end of the call after the person had hung up the phone, I've heard things I can never ever forget but couldn't process because I've not actually seen it, or found out what happened

Clawdy · 09/05/2019 22:19

Tonight's was so gripping. Would have liked an update on the woman giving birth with heart problems.

misscockerspaniel · 10/05/2019 12:51

Re; paramedics, it must vary between trusts because in a previous series, they have shown ambulances being listed as unavailable whilst the crew took a short time out to process whatever they had just seen/done.

Sonicknuckles · 10/05/2019 13:15

@YesQueen what training/qualifications do you have to do your job? What kind of personality do you need to be etc? Thanks

YesQueen · 10/05/2019 13:44

@Sonicknuckles basic GCSEs. Ability to be calm under pressure, take a LOT of calls per shift. Empathy, listening and typing skills
Training is provided once you are employed Smile

Sonicknuckles · 10/05/2019 14:00

Yes Queen thank you

PantsyMcPantsface · 10/05/2019 14:04

I've definitely seen a previous episode where they showed the ambulance staff being stood down for a debrief after a traumatic event - as far as I can recall it was the episode with a huge RTA in the city centre and focused quite heavily on one of the staff who had PTSD and the debrief session of the crews after the event. (It's fairly clear in my mind as I had a bit of a TV backlog recorded and only watched it relatively recently)

longtompot · 10/05/2019 23:31

It was in the centre of Birmingham I think @PantsyMcPantsface. The young ambulance driver who phoned her mum in tears afterwards :( It was a hard episode, but so are so many of them.
One that stood out for me was the poor man who hung himself in his flat, and he had 3 or 4 dogs who were just wondering what was going on.
Not watched this weeks yet, but will do in a bit after Graham Norton.

Original poster
purpleme12 · 11/05/2019 00:56

Re the man who killed his wife I wondered what the diminished responsibility was. It said his family was supporting him

OP posts:
Clawdy · 11/05/2019 08:06

She was 86, so maybe he was late eighties, possibly with severe illness or dementia.

CoolCarrie · 11/05/2019 18:22

I think he couldn’t cope any more with looking after his wife as she was very ill with dementia, he said she was bedridden, it was very sad.

covetingthepreciousthings · 11/05/2019 19:18

She was 86, so maybe he was late eighties, possibly with severe illness or dementia.

He was 84, his wife had dementia for a decade, they'd been together 58 years & he'd promised her she'd never end up in a care home.

If you google it there's been some news articles about it after the episode, he was given a 2 year suspended sentence as the judge said it was an exceptional case.

Tragic Sad

Original poster
purpleme12 · 13/05/2019 22:50

Wow that is tragic

OP posts:
FireflyEden · 14/05/2019 01:14

I felt for the call handler at the beginning of the episode. To take a call like that saying he had killed his wife!
I have looked after many many critically ill patients but have a full team working with me, unlike our crews out on the ground, and out Control Room Staff who hear the worst of it at its rawest. Nothing shocks me, unfortunately I've seen it all, but both my son and I were sat in silence shocked at the old man, he got a suspended sentence for killing his wife.

Ambulance is a very hard hitting episode, thought provoking and emotional. Love it.

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