Thursday 13 December 2007

Ambulance plea to punters

I have read this today and it still absolutely amazes me how people can be so stupid, drunk or not, called for a taxi, called to get cigs on Bank Holiday, well read it for yourself.

I have said for a long time people need training on the necessities of calling an ambulance, I personally think it should be taught in schools, I agree it is difficult to decipher what people think is an emergency and it may also put off the little old lady with DIB who doesn't want to put anyone out, but on the other hand if that ambulance is diverted from the drunk who just needs to sleep it may well save hers or someone else's life.

We had one of the guys fall over outside the pub on Saturday night, pissed up admittedly and he did split his eye open quite badly, but we managed to stem the bleeding between us and he didn't want the embarrassment of an ambulance turning up at the pub.

So we left him to sleep it off and he got a taxi to casualty later on to get stitched up, he did need quite a few stitches, but the point I am making is he didn't want to take an ambulance away from something more serious.

If it had been up to others in the pub though they would have called and he would have sat in casualty for probably 6 or 7 hours to get stitched up, the only reason he couldn't walk was because he was pissed.

So again it's was well meaning mop's who would have held the ambulance up when it could have been somewhere more serious on a Saturday night.

On another note, I also read this about solo responders, this certainly gives call for the stab vests being petitioned for here.

I wouldn't like to think I was going solo into some of the areas round here never mind across the rest of the country, I think they are brave even going into certain areas at all.

If you haven't signed the petition, please do so here and feel free to take for your own sites, I am still not sure it will do any good but we can at least try..

6 comments:

kingmagic said...

The article by the Guardian demeans us from the start by calling us drivers!

The report has taken a very black and white simple stance.

It seemed to me to be a "shock/horror/stun" type of report trying to perpetuate the image of us being drivers of big yellow/white taxis!

The essence of the report into solo response cars as opposed to ambulances, was too simplified.

We in this country are becoming too used to government targets. I would have liked to see more of a challenge to the ORCON targets and highlighting the lack of proper continuing training in the ambulance service.

Good call on the split eye job at the pub. Common sense at last. Nice one Emma.

Good luck with the job too, glad its all coming together for you.

Anonymous said...

I’ve only ever been called an ambulance once in my life, January 1991. I slipped on some ice on the crossing at the bus station and broke my leg. Ambulance shipped me off to hospital, I was so embarrassed all my school friends where watching. The hospital staff couldn’t be bothered to deal with me and said it was sprain and sent me home even though I couldn't walk. Three days later my mum took me back and demanded an x-ray, I’d broken my tibia, spent six weeks in plaster.

Now I’ve called an ambulance on two occasions, once for the old man I use to live next door too in his 80’s after he was knocked off his feet by a hyper Alsatian puppy and split his head open on the paving stones and once for the other elderly lady who we lived next door to who fell off a kitchen chair and broke her hip.

Dark Side said...

KM - Thanks for commenting, it makes more sense then my ramblings...I do agree about ORCON though and the lack of training in the NHS in general really, I do still think you should only go out in two's though, but then FRU's are solo already aren't they?..xx

Ally - I have to admit the only time I have called an ambulance is when I was in agony on the bedroom floor with stomach ache and couldn't get up, by the time I managed to crawl down the stairs and let them in and been lifted out to the ambulance the minute they put me on entinox I felt like a right fraud.

I did so say at the time but the paramedic said hey don't worry our last call was to an ingrowing toenail.....how ridiculous...

I would say that both of your calls where genuine anyway..xx

Anonymous said...

just dont understand people, why people do these things,
ps, i posted some funny pics, x

trinity pup said...

i signed it hun... here's hoping that it can come into effect at some point and soon... t.

Dark Side said...

Thanks Trinity and welcome on board xx