Landcruiser
Well-Known Member
We can have accidents at any time but generally we can rely on an ambulance coming if we need it. The point is, on strike days, you may find yourself without help if you need it, which wouldn't otherwise be the case...
Strikes and riding at xmas
- Thread starter scruffyponies
- Start date
Barton Bounty
Just simply loving life with Orbi 🥰
Can we rely on it though? Im not being funny but a lot of people lately on this forum have had accidents and waited longer than they should. I am
Fortunate to live bang between two hospitals so if I urgently needed care. Id phone my husband too who works at the hospital. Unless it was life threatening, I wouldn’t need an ambulance. Hopefully I will never need one ?
Sossigpoker
Well-Known Member
My parents are here so I haven't ridden today but if they weren't here , I wouldn't ride during ambulance strikes, knowing my luck I'd rather play it safe.
Sossigpoker
Well-Known Member
A friend lay in the arena for over an hour back in the summer, with a completely mashed up hip. I realise that as she was conscious and breathing her life wasn't in danger, but she was in excruciating pain , with her leg sticking out in a horrible angle. And waiting for over an hour was distressing for her and the rest of us.
Thankfully she had a joint with her ,lol , which helped with the pain for a bit.
With an injury like that , there's absolutely no way she could have been transported into a hospital without an ambulance.
She had a 5 hour surgery on arrival there , that's how bad it was.
Barton Bounty
Just simply loving life with Orbi 🥰
Totally get what your saying but still she shouldn’t have had to wait over an hour. Thank god for herbal medicine ?
During covid at the larger yard we all decided not to off the yard far to hack so we had less chance of needing an ambulance. I will probably just ride on the estate and not go near roads on those days ?
Sossigpoker
Well-Known Member
I thought it was unacceptable how long she waited , but I didn't make the 999 call so I don't know if the fact that her leg was nowhere near a normal position was mentioned, or if they just said that she'd "hurt her leg". I feel a bit sick even thinking about how mangled up she was ?
When I broke my back in Dec 2019, the ambulance was there in about 20 minutes. So things have got a lot worse from then.
Barton Bounty
Just simply loving life with Orbi 🥰
Sounds like my OHs leg, bottom bone was protruding and all bones smashed in that leg. ?
I know they have got worse but there is so many people attending a and e or phoning ambulances, that do not think to themselves… ‘do I really need to call an ambulance’
Ample Prosecco
Still wittering on
It’s much much worse now. A broken hip/leg would result in many, many hours of waiting even without a strike. As I said I was looking after someone with possibly head and spinal
Injuries. They graded it as ‘Category 2’ but still said it would be over 7 hours. My cousin had suspected appendicitis and NHS111 told them to dial 999 for an ambulance. After 7 hours + her husband drove her. By then it had burst, she was going into multi organ failure and spent weeks in ICU. I don’t think people have the faintest idea how vulnerable we all are now unless they have needed care urgently recently. We do not have functioning emergency services or a functioning NHS.
Injuries. They graded it as ‘Category 2’ but still said it would be over 7 hours. My cousin had suspected appendicitis and NHS111 told them to dial 999 for an ambulance. After 7 hours + her husband drove her. By then it had burst, she was going into multi organ failure and spent weeks in ICU. I don’t think people have the faintest idea how vulnerable we all are now unless they have needed care urgently recently. We do not have functioning emergency services or a functioning NHS.
Sossigpoker
Well-Known Member
I heard this woman on the radio this morning saying - very proud of herself- that usually she calls an ambulance to help her get up if she has a fall , but today she called her carer. She shouldn't be calling an ambulance if she just needs help getting up and has carers who can help her!
Sossigpoker
Well-Known Member
Is it just lack of staff or is it too much demand or a bit of both that's causing the issue ?
It's terrifying.
Bobthecob15
Well-Known Member
Just like to point out that your chances of an ambulance for anything that isn't mega urgent are pretty low most days of the year, not just on strike days so...
We went ice skating today as well as riding ? trying to get the public to solve a crisis that is the government's doing is never going to work so wish they'd stop trying to blame everyone but themselves
We went ice skating today as well as riding ? trying to get the public to solve a crisis that is the government's doing is never going to work so wish they'd stop trying to blame everyone but themselves
Barton Bounty
Just simply loving life with Orbi 🥰
Exactly! Thats why they have an emergency care line.
my cousin is a charge nurse, they are not too bad at her hospital ?
Barton Bounty
Just simply loving life with Orbi 🥰
I have needed an ambulance twice in my life. Once for my son who was 9 months old and had febrile convulsions and died for 8 minutes on the floor in front of me! It took 40 minutes for an ambulance.
And for my dad who had a stroke, it took 70 minutes that time.
And for my dad who had a stroke, it took 70 minutes that time.
Bobthecob15
Well-Known Member
Its more complex...ambulances can't offload patients at a&e because the hospitals are full...nowhere to send them as no social care..so the ambulances are queuing for hours with patients on board. The longer they wait the less availability there is for them to get to the next emergency. Staffing is also an issue but throughout the whole system not just ambulances.
maya2008
Well-Known Member
To be fair, for appendicitis etc it would take less time to drive/taxi to a and e than it would to wait to speak to someone at 111! At least then, if you pass out in the waiting room, you can see a doctor immediately (as happened to two people while I was there recently).
Bobthecob15
Well-Known Member
My husband is a GP and has had to drive critically sick kids to a&e himself, as ambulances just dont come, no joke. The system is broken. Its not the fault of the staff either, blinking government...10+ years of running it ragged and this is where we are...never known conditions so bad for staff its a disgrace
millitiger
Well-Known Member
Carrying on as usual here.
Ample Prosecco
Still wittering on
This. There is a tendency to blame the public not the government which I understand but it is a pointless argument. Of course there are people who misuse all services for all sorts of reasons: they are mentally unwell, lonely, lazy, freezing at home, anxious, vulnerable, homeless, have learning needs, are unskilful etc etc etc etc. It was always that way and will always be that way. It is up to SERVICES to 'manage the front door' not to just blame the public for doing what they do.
They need, and actually do (or at least did), have effective diversion services. There are services specifically set up to try and understand and support 'high volume users' - ie people who keep turning up for not very good or convincing reasons. Usually mental health related. But at some point all those services also fall apart under pressure. Like all services do. The NHS has been run into the ground and there is no slack anywhere anymore. If you can't get a GP, if your house is freezing, if you can't get carers to come out, then in the end you are going to go where the lights are still on. Those lonely souls wanting help from someone are not the problem. It is a systematically underfunded system that is the problem. Along with a total lack of social care which means people get stuck the only place they can't be turned away from. The increasing number of inappropriate people in A&E and in hospital is a symptom of the problem, not the cause of it. All those people should be having their needs met elsewhere. But aren't.
southerncomfort
Well-Known Member
My friend works on the ambulances. She says the problems are complex: people with minor injuries using ambos as a taxi service, patients not being able to get a GP appointment, parents calling an ambo because their kid has a fever, a growing elderly population and a huge rise in the number of people having a serious mental health crisis.
It's not so much more money that's needed ( their are literally billions pumped in to the NHS every year), but it needs to be used in a more thoughtful way I.e bring back convalescent homes so that elderly patients aren't being sent home with no care provision, mobile emergency mental health care providers that can attend someone in crisis instead of an ambulance, better education for new parents (don't swaddle a sick baby up in several layers! strip all clothes off and bathe with a cold damp flannel!), and a proper restructure of the NHS,getting rid of unnecessary managers etc and using the money to support the training of new nurses.
The problem isn't a lack of investment, it's that successive governments have been too hands off and left the NHS to stagnate. Too many NHS trusts have been judged to be totally incompetent but other than issuing warnings about poor care nothing has been done!
It's not so much more money that's needed ( their are literally billions pumped in to the NHS every year), but it needs to be used in a more thoughtful way I.e bring back convalescent homes so that elderly patients aren't being sent home with no care provision, mobile emergency mental health care providers that can attend someone in crisis instead of an ambulance, better education for new parents (don't swaddle a sick baby up in several layers! strip all clothes off and bathe with a cold damp flannel!), and a proper restructure of the NHS,getting rid of unnecessary managers etc and using the money to support the training of new nurses.
The problem isn't a lack of investment, it's that successive governments have been too hands off and left the NHS to stagnate. Too many NHS trusts have been judged to be totally incompetent but other than issuing warnings about poor care nothing has been done!
spacefaer
Well-Known Member
My oh was in A&E last night. It was absolute carnage but some of the people there really shouldn't have been. One woman in a pink tracksuit had gone in because her puppy had nicked the tip of her nose with its tiny teeth. Not exactly an emergency
scats
Well-Known Member
My aunty is a call handler for North west ambulances. It’s one of the reasons why I found out so much info about my call afterwards- she did some digging to see who took it (wasn’t her shift)
The stories she tells are horrifying, of people waiting for 7plus hours with broken hips, old people lying on cold floors for hours. A new system was introduced but doesn’t seem to be working as well as expected. The whole thing is a mess.
Most high impact riding falls are classed as a category 2, but obviously these will get bumped down if category 1s come in. Plus, the amount of ambulances waiting for hours with patients at A&E means even less on the roads. It’s a total mess.
The stories she tells are horrifying, of people waiting for 7plus hours with broken hips, old people lying on cold floors for hours. A new system was introduced but doesn’t seem to be working as well as expected. The whole thing is a mess.
Most high impact riding falls are classed as a category 2, but obviously these will get bumped down if category 1s come in. Plus, the amount of ambulances waiting for hours with patients at A&E means even less on the roads. It’s a total mess.
southerncomfort
Well-Known Member
.
Gloi
Too little time, too much to read.
The other thing is - was her carer allowed to get her up from the floor. In a lot of care settings the carer would have been instructed not to get the client up themselves if they had fallen but to call an ambulance.
Sossigpoker
Well-Known Member
A friend of mine was in a situation , as a carer , and chose to act with common sense and do things she's not supposed to do. In this case it was to wash an elderly man that other carers had failed to wash.
But it sounds like in this case the carers were able to and allowed to help the lady up - just an example of how ridiculous it is that someone in that position wouldn't not call an ambulance.
Kunoichi73
Beware... My Plants...
My dad had a fall today. Luckily we pay for emergency fall support. The 2 ladies who came out to get him up, put him in bed and told us to leave him there. Apparently, if he had 2 more falls today then they couldn't come out because of the chance he might be injured and we'd have to call an ambulance and there was only one operating for the whole of our area.
canteron
Well-Known Member
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burtie
Well-Known Member
Luckily we are only a 15 min drive from A and E, and there are 3 of us, so we have a plan that in case of emergency we just drive them straight there. If it's myself or my daughter we'd get to A and E whatever state, but my husband is over 6ft and 17 stone. If he's unconscious we're a bit stuffed. Probably wake the neighbours. It's really quite worrying.
Michen
Well-Known Member
The problem is the use of the ambulance service is totally wrong. If you have appendicitis, why would you call an ambulance if you could be driven to the nearest hospital.
Similarly a broken boke that's simple ie not totally mangled or a bone sticking out. if you can be driven to the hospital, you should.
Similarly a broken boke that's simple ie not totally mangled or a bone sticking out. if you can be driven to the hospital, you should.
Hallo2012
Well-Known Member
carrying on as normal here but mine are both small, clever, biddable types even if one is only 4yo.
whatever happened my OH wouldn't wait for hours he would get me in the car and get me there himself if i did fall, we've already discussed it!
whatever happened my OH wouldn't wait for hours he would get me in the car and get me there himself if i did fall, we've already discussed it!
humblepie
Well-Known Member
Years ago came off, was concussed, drove home and said to my mother could you drive me to hospital......and no, I shouldn't have driven home but obviously wasn't thinking straight.