Just came back from local A&E for my sister, who went into anaphylactic shock. She had 2 rounds of epinephrine whilst waiting in the ambulance outside. There were 40 ambulances parked up (not an exaggeration actually 40). Took them 6 hours to get to her and you need to have blood tests within 2. So she’ll get discharged to potentially die on another day.
Blueswan868 on
Disgraceful. My next-door neighbour who was 87 at the time tripped up outside his house and broke his hip. 2 hours it took for them to arrive.
honkymotherfucker1 on
My mum works in elderly care and has literally finished a shift with a person on the floor waiting for an ambulance and come back for her next shift with the person still there. My nan fell and broke her hip a few weeks ago, she was waiting for 7 hours.
Something is *really* wrong with the ambulance service right now, it is absolutely fucked on every single level. Healthcare in general right now is in an extremely sorry state but if you’re in a critical condition and need an ambulance you better start fucking praying to everyone who’ll listen because they’ll be more likely to help you in time.
If you’ve been to a hospital recently you’ll see the masses of ambulances parked up with patients in waiting outside.
I can’t even begin to understand what’s wrong, I’m not qualified or informed enough at all, but it really really needs sorting out.
Timelord1000 on
It’s called corporatized medicine. The CEOs are running the hospitals now. The mandate is no longer to save lives, unless you are a VIP. Rather, the goal is to extract as much money as possible from whomever is currently on the hook before getting to you/your loved one to do the same, unless the government pays them more to let you die or big pharma pays them more to slow kill you. (Bird in the hand and all).
Special-Island-4014 on
It’s not an ambulance issue it’s bureaucracy issue. Ambulances as waiting to handover patients in hospitals instead of picking up the next casualty.
Not enough beds in hospitals means people are stuck connected to ambulance drivers until one is available.
This country needs more hospitals and better elder care as hospitals are now a substitute care
Home.
Elder care is such a profitable business because they do the bare minimum. There needs to be legislation to increase care and provide more state run elder care
Homes that aren’t for profit and put more nurses and doctors to not tie up hospitals.
sparkysmonkey on
I just left working for an elderly Careline because I couldn’t handle the stress of hearing people on the floor for 10 plus hours every phone call all night. I’d have family members shouting at me asking where ambulances are. It’s a horrific situation. I’ve gone to work stacking shelves in a supermarket and I even get paid more.
Loose_Replacement214 on
The whole of the NHS needs a major overhaul, it’s no longer fit for purpose and throwing money at it won’t help us in the long term.
displaceddoonhamer on
The short and overly simply answer is the ambulance service is being squeezed by two things.
The lack of gp appointments increasing our workload and it means when granny does her hip we are not available because we are at bill who could have been fixed weeks ago by seeing his gp.
That and the inability to drop off patients at the hospital in a timely manner, this can vary at each hospital but they all have it to a greater or lesser degree, and again it means resources are not available when a 999 call comes in.
wobblyweasel on
I’m originally from Latvia, called an ambulance countless times for my grandma when she was still alive. the ambulance would arrive reliably within 10 minutes every time. also for regular patients you can get same day blood tests *and* results, also ultrasonic etc, and a CT within a few days.
UnratedRamblings on
These are the exact kind of things that make me dread ever having to call 999. My mum had a heart attack 2 years ago and was told to wait 8 hours for an ambulance. They were ‘kind’ enough to call back after 6 hours to see if she still needed an ambulance at which point my dad went “fuck it” and took her to A&E (sorry, the minor injury department because it got downgraded) 10 miles away where they arranged transfer to the actual A&E – which is a further 20 miles away.
She got seen to about 24 hours later and was given a bed where they did all the testing and she had to have surgery.
I had a bad reaction to some surgery last year and they needed to transfer me to another hospital – the ambulance would be 10 hours. The anaesthetist who had dealt with me came back to the hospital whilst I was waiting (after his shift had ended long ago) and saw to me quicker than an ambulance could get to me. Whilst I was already in a hospital.
If I crash on my motorbike – I’d bet I’d be good as dead. Ambulance and police are to services that terrify me given their response times.
Strangely I’ve not seen or heard anything like this for the fire service.
Gfplux on
14 years of Tory neglect will take a long time to fix.
11 Comments
Just came back from local A&E for my sister, who went into anaphylactic shock. She had 2 rounds of epinephrine whilst waiting in the ambulance outside. There were 40 ambulances parked up (not an exaggeration actually 40). Took them 6 hours to get to her and you need to have blood tests within 2. So she’ll get discharged to potentially die on another day.
Disgraceful. My next-door neighbour who was 87 at the time tripped up outside his house and broke his hip. 2 hours it took for them to arrive.
My mum works in elderly care and has literally finished a shift with a person on the floor waiting for an ambulance and come back for her next shift with the person still there. My nan fell and broke her hip a few weeks ago, she was waiting for 7 hours.
Something is *really* wrong with the ambulance service right now, it is absolutely fucked on every single level. Healthcare in general right now is in an extremely sorry state but if you’re in a critical condition and need an ambulance you better start fucking praying to everyone who’ll listen because they’ll be more likely to help you in time.
If you’ve been to a hospital recently you’ll see the masses of ambulances parked up with patients in waiting outside.
I can’t even begin to understand what’s wrong, I’m not qualified or informed enough at all, but it really really needs sorting out.
It’s called corporatized medicine. The CEOs are running the hospitals now. The mandate is no longer to save lives, unless you are a VIP. Rather, the goal is to extract as much money as possible from whomever is currently on the hook before getting to you/your loved one to do the same, unless the government pays them more to let you die or big pharma pays them more to slow kill you. (Bird in the hand and all).
It’s not an ambulance issue it’s bureaucracy issue. Ambulances as waiting to handover patients in hospitals instead of picking up the next casualty.
Not enough beds in hospitals means people are stuck connected to ambulance drivers until one is available.
This country needs more hospitals and better elder care as hospitals are now a substitute care
Home.
Elder care is such a profitable business because they do the bare minimum. There needs to be legislation to increase care and provide more state run elder care
Homes that aren’t for profit and put more nurses and doctors to not tie up hospitals.
I just left working for an elderly Careline because I couldn’t handle the stress of hearing people on the floor for 10 plus hours every phone call all night. I’d have family members shouting at me asking where ambulances are. It’s a horrific situation. I’ve gone to work stacking shelves in a supermarket and I even get paid more.
The whole of the NHS needs a major overhaul, it’s no longer fit for purpose and throwing money at it won’t help us in the long term.
The short and overly simply answer is the ambulance service is being squeezed by two things.
The lack of gp appointments increasing our workload and it means when granny does her hip we are not available because we are at bill who could have been fixed weeks ago by seeing his gp.
That and the inability to drop off patients at the hospital in a timely manner, this can vary at each hospital but they all have it to a greater or lesser degree, and again it means resources are not available when a 999 call comes in.
I’m originally from Latvia, called an ambulance countless times for my grandma when she was still alive. the ambulance would arrive reliably within 10 minutes every time. also for regular patients you can get same day blood tests *and* results, also ultrasonic etc, and a CT within a few days.
These are the exact kind of things that make me dread ever having to call 999. My mum had a heart attack 2 years ago and was told to wait 8 hours for an ambulance. They were ‘kind’ enough to call back after 6 hours to see if she still needed an ambulance at which point my dad went “fuck it” and took her to A&E (sorry, the minor injury department because it got downgraded) 10 miles away where they arranged transfer to the actual A&E – which is a further 20 miles away.
She got seen to about 24 hours later and was given a bed where they did all the testing and she had to have surgery.
I had a bad reaction to some surgery last year and they needed to transfer me to another hospital – the ambulance would be 10 hours. The anaesthetist who had dealt with me came back to the hospital whilst I was waiting (after his shift had ended long ago) and saw to me quicker than an ambulance could get to me. Whilst I was already in a hospital.
If I crash on my motorbike – I’d bet I’d be good as dead. Ambulance and police are to services that terrify me given their response times.
Strangely I’ve not seen or heard anything like this for the fire service.
14 years of Tory neglect will take a long time to fix.