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- Jul 31, 2016
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Posted by a London ambulance driver... sad but true...
So the future of the NHS is being talked about a lot at the moment, mostly by people that don’t actually understand how it works.
Most of us when we see an ambulance going past on blue lights assume that they are going to an actual emergency.
Let me describe my day. Bear in mind as you read this that I was one of 300+ resources available to London today. I guarantee nearly all of them will have had a similar day. Please think about that as you read this...
Job 1: a man found dead by his housemate. I think we can all agree that this is what we are here for. This will be my one ‘proper job’ for quite a while I should imagine.
Job 2: a man in his 20s who had cut his hand on a broken glass. I quite literally put a plaster on it and left. In the 8 minutes I took to get there, we had 5 999 calls about this patient from various members of the family. Five. On what planet is that acceptable?
Job 3: a child of secondary school age with a cough and temperature since Friday. That’s it. Like half the children in the country at the moment they had a viral chest infection that will get better by itself, given the chance. This was a 999 call so I can’t even blame 111 for it.
Job 4: a man who pretended to have sickle cell disease in order to get a fix of morphine. You won’t believe me, but people like this are not uncommon. I fell for his act and he ended up jumping the queue at hospital. He walked out an hour later after they rumbled him - I was told after he has been doing this several times a week for years.
Job 5: a non emergency call that had waited 7 hours (I’m sure your getting the gist of why). A bed bound patient that needed to go into hospital. A genuine, albeit non emergency case. We were only there then because a neighbour had phoned 999 and made up a symptom that she knew would get a quick response. You may be able to sympathise with that, but it does not solve the problem.
Job 6: a girl in her 20s who quite literally phoned us for a lift to hospital. She lied on the phone of course, saying she had symptoms that she didn’t so that we got there quickly. She didn’t need to go to hospital. Not that it really matters, but I finished my shift late because of her.
This is one car on one day. This is a NORMAL day. It was very similar yesterday, it will be very similar tomorrow.
I ask you whether you think that is normal? Who do you think is to blame? The ambulance service is one part of the NHS - but our daily experiences are all very similar.
Be under no illusion that who you vote for on Thursday will make any difference to this - this is not the fault of government or underfunding, despite what they may say. All I see is government propaganda on both sides and people falling for it. I for one don’t want the NHS to get any more funding when it’s going to be spend perpetuating this nonsense. Do you?
Anyway, I’m glad I do the job I do because on the rare occasion I go to someone that actually needs me I know I can make a difference. The trouble is, people won’t keep doing this job unless something gives.
If the British public want to save the NHS... we need to teach them to stop abusing it’s resources ?
So the future of the NHS is being talked about a lot at the moment, mostly by people that don’t actually understand how it works.
Most of us when we see an ambulance going past on blue lights assume that they are going to an actual emergency.
Let me describe my day. Bear in mind as you read this that I was one of 300+ resources available to London today. I guarantee nearly all of them will have had a similar day. Please think about that as you read this...
Job 1: a man found dead by his housemate. I think we can all agree that this is what we are here for. This will be my one ‘proper job’ for quite a while I should imagine.
Job 2: a man in his 20s who had cut his hand on a broken glass. I quite literally put a plaster on it and left. In the 8 minutes I took to get there, we had 5 999 calls about this patient from various members of the family. Five. On what planet is that acceptable?
Job 3: a child of secondary school age with a cough and temperature since Friday. That’s it. Like half the children in the country at the moment they had a viral chest infection that will get better by itself, given the chance. This was a 999 call so I can’t even blame 111 for it.
Job 4: a man who pretended to have sickle cell disease in order to get a fix of morphine. You won’t believe me, but people like this are not uncommon. I fell for his act and he ended up jumping the queue at hospital. He walked out an hour later after they rumbled him - I was told after he has been doing this several times a week for years.
Job 5: a non emergency call that had waited 7 hours (I’m sure your getting the gist of why). A bed bound patient that needed to go into hospital. A genuine, albeit non emergency case. We were only there then because a neighbour had phoned 999 and made up a symptom that she knew would get a quick response. You may be able to sympathise with that, but it does not solve the problem.
Job 6: a girl in her 20s who quite literally phoned us for a lift to hospital. She lied on the phone of course, saying she had symptoms that she didn’t so that we got there quickly. She didn’t need to go to hospital. Not that it really matters, but I finished my shift late because of her.
This is one car on one day. This is a NORMAL day. It was very similar yesterday, it will be very similar tomorrow.
I ask you whether you think that is normal? Who do you think is to blame? The ambulance service is one part of the NHS - but our daily experiences are all very similar.
Be under no illusion that who you vote for on Thursday will make any difference to this - this is not the fault of government or underfunding, despite what they may say. All I see is government propaganda on both sides and people falling for it. I for one don’t want the NHS to get any more funding when it’s going to be spend perpetuating this nonsense. Do you?
Anyway, I’m glad I do the job I do because on the rare occasion I go to someone that actually needs me I know I can make a difference. The trouble is, people won’t keep doing this job unless something gives.
If the British public want to save the NHS... we need to teach them to stop abusing it’s resources ?
