Insignificant/ Significant things that BYP or just wind you up a little

[weeksy]

I'd have a close look at your policy RB. It may be no more than a call to the insurer and they sort it - they may have a contracted screen company.

(Without affecting your NC).

I don't trust them to honour their contracts tbh.

Who on earth are you insured with?!! Are they a subsidiary of Plummet Airlines or something?

That really. I know when we had a stone do the screen on the Transit it was £900 to replace it... or £125 with the insurance company and no sign of any increases after that. It was so much fun we had another screen 8 months later.... for another £125 lol

[Rockburner]

I don't trust them to honour their contracts tbh.

Who on earth are you insured with?!! Are they a subsidiary of Plummet Airlines or something?

That really. I know when we had a stone do the screen on the Transit it was £900 to replace it... or £125 with the insurance company and no sign of any increases after that. It was so much fun we had another screen 8 months later.... for another £125 lol

I don't trust any insurance companies.

Especially after the debacle with Rock1 and other situations where they've been utterly focused on acting contrary to the customer.

[Count Steer]

Who on earth are you insured with?!! Are they a subsidiary of Plummet Airlines or something?

That really. I know when we had a stone do the screen on the Transit it was £900 to replace it... or £125 with the insurance company and no sign of any increases after that. It was so much fun we had another screen 8 months later.... for another £125 lol

I don't trust any insurance companies.

Especially after the debacle with Rock1 and other situations where they've been utterly focused on acting contrary to the customer.

Well, if you aren't going to use the insurance you might as well just go for the absolute minimum level of cover needed to stay legal. Bank the difference and 'self-insure'.

As far as windscreens go, most instances I know of, inc. mine, are more like Weeksy's than dealing with the corporate embodiment of Catch 22.

[Mussels]

I've been waiting 4 hours for a priority 2 ambulance, no sign of it at all. It's not exactly a heart attack but may become fatal in a few more hours.
N.B. it's not for me and not unexpected.

5 hours later they showed up, decided it was suddenly urgent and put blue lights on for the 10 minute drive to A&E.

You were 10 minutes from the A&E & waited five hours for an ambulance?? Don't you have a car?

A car wouldn't cut it last night, it needed a stretcher crew.
Besides that they kept saying it was high priority and an ambulance would be there soon.

[Count Steer]

5 hours later they showed up, decided it was suddenly urgent and put blue lights on for the 10 minute drive to A&E.

You were 10 minutes from the A&E & waited five hours for an ambulance?? Don't you have a car?

A car wouldn't cut it last night, it needed a stretcher crew.
Besides that they kept saying it was high priority and an ambulance would be there soon.

I hope it all works out well for the patient.

[Horse]

I've been waiting 4 hours for a priority 2 ambulance, no sign of it at all. It's not exactly a heart attack but may become fatal in a few more hours.
N.B. it's not for me and not unexpected.

5 hours later they showed up, decided it was suddenly urgent and put blue lights on for the 10 minute drive to A&E.

What do you think could have been done differently?

I'll give you the first suggestion for free: the call handler will - probably - have triaged the call based on asking you (or whoever made the call) a series of questions. There are roughly 7.5M 999 ambulance calls each year, so the process is fairly well honed. But the algorithm may not be perfect.

What did the crew find that made them consider it urgent?

During the waiting time, did the patient's condition change.

Something anyone could do is get a basic set of equipment: pulse oximeter and blood pressure wrist cuff. Ideally a thermometer too.

Monitor their condition (against a 'healthy' baseline), and call back if things change.

I've been with a patient, waiting for ambulance back up, heard sirens - and seen them zoom past the end of the road going to a Category 1 call (with a solo paramedic attending too).

I was on a call (first on scene, by a few seconds) a few weeks ago. It ended up with me (amateur), two ambulance crews, a team leader paramedic and the air ambulance all attending.

[Mussels]

I've been waiting 4 hours for a priority 2 ambulance, no sign of it at all. It's not exactly a heart attack but may become fatal in a few more hours.
N.B. it's not for me and not unexpected.

5 hours later they showed up, decided it was suddenly urgent and put blue lights on for the 10 minute drive to A&E.

What do you think could have been done differently?

I'll give you the first suggestion for free: the call handler will - probably - have triaged the call based on asking you (or whoever made the call) a series of questions. There are roughly 7.5M 999 ambulance calls each year, so the process is fairly well honed. But the algorithm may not be perfect.

What did the crew find that made them consider it urgent?

During the waiting time, did the patient's condition change.

Something anyone could do is get a basic set of equipment: pulse oximeter and blood pressure wrist cuff. Ideally a thermometer too.

Monitor their condition (against a 'healthy' baseline), and call back if things change.

I've been with a patient, waiting for ambulance back up, heard sirens - and seen them zoom past the end of the road going to a Category 1 call (with a solo paramedic attending too).

I was on a call (first on scene, by a few seconds) a few weeks ago. It ended up with me (amateur), two ambulance crews, a team leader paramedic and the air ambulance all attending.

The district nurse made the first call, she did obs and pointed out it was an infection that needed urgent hospital care. She had already told the dispatcher the patient's baseline was off. We now know the pain was his kidneys but at the time the nurse couldn't pinpoint the pain source.
When the crew turned up one of them was trying to put us off by asking what we expect the hospital to do, the other guy quite quickly said he could smell the infection and within a minute decided it was sepsis and a code blue.

Apart from us calling to chase it was handled by HCPs all along, seemingly with dispatchers deciding the nurse was exaggerating.

[Horse]

...seemingly with dispatchers deciding the nurse was exaggerating.

AFAIK, individual call handlers don't get to make decisions like that. There may be a clinician involved, but that is on a call by call basis.

https://www.neas.nhs.uk/your-service/99 ... -programme

I've phoned in to give obs because I'm concerned and been told that they don't change the Category.

But that doesn't mean that a crew on-scene won't transport the patient on blues.



As you can see, sepsis is still a Cat 2.

Same Q: what could have been done differently? You, from your posts, are obviously not happy - and I wouldn't have been either.

[Mussels]

Same Q: what could have been done differently? You, from your posts, are obviously not happy - and I wouldn't have been either.

Your post is interesting as London seems to operate with much longer timespans. When the nurse called it in she was told within 3 hours and probably much sooner, my wife called back after 3 hours and said something to get it raised to cat2 when we were told it was on it's way.
I guess the most annoying part is I feel we were deliberately misled to keep us quiet, I think they knew those times were highly unlikely to be met. If I had know how long they would leave it then I would have called a doctor over who was a friend of the patient and would be happy to help.

[Horse]

Your post is interesting as London seems to operate with much longer timespans.

Their info here:

https://www.londonambulance.nhs.uk/call ... ategories/

Category one: ...responded to in an average time of seven minutes.
Category two: ... responded to in an average time of 18 minutes.
Category three: ...These will be responded to at least nine out of 10 times within 120 minutes.
Category four: ...responded to at least nine out of 10 times within 180 minutes.

But those response times rely on crews being available. If there are none available (high call volume, crews stacked up at A&E, breakdowns, etc) then waiting times extend. Similarly if higher category calls come in.

When the nurse called it in she was told within 3 hours and probably much sooner, my wife called back after 3 hours and said something to get it raised to cat2 when we were told it was on it's way.

Ah, your earlier post said "I've been waiting 4 hours for a priority 2 ambulance".

As in the example I gave previously, if higher category calls come in they'll get available ambulances. Your escalation from 3 to 2 did that to other people.

I guess the most annoying part is I feel we were deliberately misled to keep us quiet, I think they knew those times were highly unlikely to be met.

From what I've seen on TV obdocs, call handlers often tell callers when wait times extend.

If you were told '3 hours' and it was a Cat 3, it was already way beyond their target time.

If I had know how long they would leave it then I would have called a doctor over who was a friend of the patient and would be happy to help.

To do what? If it was high risk of sepsis, it needs hospital IV antibiotics.

I'm not trying to defend the LAS, just give real-world examples and information.


I hope that, however much delayed (yes, sepsis is life-threatening - I knew two people who died of it last year), that your friend recovers.

[Taipan]

In our recent experiences, the delay in getting an ambo is down to the ambo staff as much as anything. When they (finally) got to us, we soon realised why they take so long to arrive, as they are in no rush to get to the next call, and are quite open about, well, stalling for time if they're nearing the end of their shift!

[Noggin]

Well, in the current theme (sort of) -

Fucking useless doctors


I have a bit of an issue with pain meds as nothing actually kills the pain so I take stuff that mostly helps but not generally a huge amount

After this latest op in hospital, I was given a morphine tablet that dissolves under yr tongue

Bloody hell, not perfect but it did help more than anything else - even made my head a bit spinny (no other opiate has ever done that). Given that even oramorph (liquid morphine) did almost nothing, I was really happy to find something that seemed to help

So I made a note, took a pic and kept it as back up for when my arm would hurt too much from using crutches

Last night I could have done with it, so I wrote a note for the doctor as I’d not seen him this week and one of the non-nurses took it to his office. I requested the med as an “orodispersible”, he came to see me and I explained I wanted the one that melts under the tongue.

He agreed to one tab for the night (cos it spins my head a bit I didn’t want it in daytime but at least at night I would be able to sleep better).


Only - the healthcare lady that delivered it tonight brought a capsule. The same drug but a capsule.

Ok, it might still work but I am SOOOO PISSED OFF. It’s an error when entering the drug in my notes and he obviously couldn’t be bothered to get it right

Super pissed off and yes I’ve taken it and maybe it’ll help, but; when a patient says that after 9 years of trying stuff she’s actually found one that works, why wouldn’t you try and get it right

[Horse]

In our recent experiences, the delay in getting an ambo is down to the ambo staff as much as anything. When they (finally) got to us, we soon realised why they take so long to arrive, as they are in no rush to get to the next call, and are quite open about, well, stalling for time if they're nearing the end of their shift!

The call I mentioned earlier, with loads of resources, one of the crews was on a break, but were asked to attend. It was only when they were on the way that they received full details.

Many crews work 12 shifts. Getting a call near the end could tie them up for hours (they don't get any choice in what they're sent to) and mean they end up at a hospital a long distance from their base.

[v8-powered]

IT bods that keep making 'work arounds' in systems that are absolutely dogshit and expect people to accept their bodges.

[Mussels]

IT bods that keep making 'work arounds' in systems that are absolutely dogshit and expect people to accept their bodges.

You get two choices - work around or not work at all.

[v8-powered]

IT bods that keep making 'work arounds' in systems that are absolutely dogshit and expect people to accept their bodges.

You get two choices - work around or not work at all.

Or in this case, stop being tight and buy the bespoke system we specified for the job. Funding is available but they thi k they know better....

[Cousin Jack]

Back on the subject of ambulances and response times, several things could be done.

Stop responding to those idiots who call an ambulance almost every day. They have mental issues, but they aren't going to die from them.

Big fines for people who call ambulances for trivial stuff. Not the well-intentioned call for something scary that turns out to be unimportant, but the total timewasters. The Ambulance crew will recognize them.

Big fines for those drivers who are so arrogant, or so unaware of their surroundings, that they hold up ambulances unecessarily. Seriously, I have seen cars in lane 3 of the M1 totally unaware of a big van with flashing blue lights camping onn their back bumper for a mile or more.

Not going to cure all the delays, but every little helps.

[Taipan]

Back on the subject of ambulances and response times, several things could be done.

Stop responding to those idiots who call an ambulance almost every day. They have mental issues, but they aren't going to die from them.

Big fines for people who call ambulances for trivial stuff. Not the well-intentioned call for something scary that turns out to be unimportant, but the total timewasters. The Ambulance crew will recognize them.

Big fines for those drivers who are so arrogant, or so unaware of their surroundings, that they hold up ambulances unecessarily. Seriously, I have seen cars in lane 3 of the M1 totally unaware of a big van with flashing blue lights camping onn their back bumper for a mile or more.

Not going to cure all the delays, but every little helps.

Mates son is a paramedic. They have a couple of people on their patch that regularly call them out for little more than attention, but one druggie lady will start self-harming if they don't show up. Where do you go with that one!?

[Nobby]

Back on the subject of ambulances and response times, several things could be done.

Stop responding to those idiots who call an ambulance almost every day. They have mental issues, but they aren't going to die from them.

Big fines for people who call ambulances for trivial stuff. Not the well-intentioned call for something scary that turns out to be unimportant, but the total timewasters. The Ambulance crew will recognize them.

Big fines for those drivers who are so arrogant, or so unaware of their surroundings, that they hold up ambulances unecessarily. Seriously, I have seen cars in lane 3 of the M1 totally unaware of a big van with flashing blue lights camping onn their back bumper for a mile or more.

Not going to cure all the delays, but every little helps.

Mates son is a paramedic. They have a couple of people on their patch that regularly call them out for little more than attention, but one druggie lady will start self-harming if they don't show up. Where do you go with that one!?

The heartless response.
Give her a bigger knife.

[Horse]

Stop responding to those idiots who call an ambulance almost every day. They have mental issues, but they aren't going to die from them.

Could you imagine the furore if, just once, they really did need an ambulance and died because one wasn't sent?

Plus, MH services would need to be able to help those people.

Big fines for people who call ambulances for trivial stuff. Not the well-intentioned call for something scary that turns out to be unimportant, but the total timewasters. The Ambulance crew will recognize them.

Yup. Too many of these - many calls are filtered out and an ambulance isn't sent.

[I went to a patient with severe abdominal pain. Bent double, screaming. Crew arrived, couldn't find anything. Pain eased. Diagnosis? Likely trapped wind]