Make Our Ambulance Service An Official Emergency Service

Buck

Buck

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Adrian
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How many people know that the ambulance service is not an emergency service?

e-petition
It is classed as an essential service. It is classed in the same category as the gas, electricity and water boards, yet we still retain the 999 status and drive under blue light conditions. Calls for an ambulance are going up but the amount of ambulances on the road are going down due to cuts in funding. It is about time the government classes the service as an emergency service and give us the same funding as the fire and police then we wont be running around in dirty old ambulances that have done 300,000 miles and not breaking down all the time, putting more life saving medics on the road and meeting the targets the government set us.



Please sign it here

Many thanks.
 
I believe this is something where cuts shouldn't be made. I also assumed, wrongly, that the Ambulance Service was an emergency service...So I have signed too.
 
I've signed ... why is it that people only support this sort of thing after they're affected :nono:
 
new2me said:
I've signed ... why is it that people only support this sort of thing after they're affected :nono:
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Not sure of your point? Wheather people have been affected or not, I believe that most of us presumed that the ambulance service is an emergency service and the OP has pointed out it does not have that status...:shrug:
 
Signed.
Incidently, what bugs me is the fact that drivers risk prosecution if going through a red light to allow an ambulance to pass through - we now have the crazy situation where ambulances with blue lights and sirens active are having to wait at traffic lights!
 
Signed.

My own Mum might not be around were it not for our ambulance service, and I know for a fact that at least one or two of my friends wouldn't be... The thinking that the ambulance service isn't an emergency service is absolutely ludicrous...
 
:plus1:
 
Done - I never knew it was not an emergency service.
This need widespread publicity.
Just about to ask LBC to mention it on air.
 
arclight said:
Done - I never knew it was not an emergency service.
This need widespread publicity.
Just about to ask LBC to mention it on air.
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I've never understood why they're not on the same footing, and have never had someone tell me the practical difference between "essential" and "emergency" service. Paramedics are to the medical profession what we are to the legal profession, and it's totally wrong to only call them "essential". It's the reason why Air Ambulances are always charities - none of them get government funding.

Mind you - take it from me - you'll still be driving those same knackered old ambulances if the state of some of my police cars is anything to go by! And we're still facing 25% cuts. Still, in the interests of equality among emergency workers - petition signed :)
 
Signed, and another person here who didn't realise it wasn't already an Emergency Service.
 
Done.
 
I really can't see the point of the petition. All other services are suffering cutbacks and therefore changing its status won't make any difference to its finances. Perhaps they should also look at the waste that is endemic in all public sector services!
 
Buck said:
. Calls for an ambulance are going up but the amount of ambulances on the road are going down due to cuts in funding.
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How many of them are people who think an ambulance is there to take them to hospital each time or is there when their child has a temp of 38.5 and they don't know what to do or other stupid reasons.

They should spend money on educating on people on what an ambulance is for and what the out of hours gp is for.

My sister is an ambulance driver and training to be a paramedic, she does spend quite a bit of time on wasted call outs, this is what needs to be stopped.

There are less ambulances because in reality we need less. We just need to get rid of the idiots clogging the system up.
 
Dale_d3100 said:
How many of them are people who think an ambulance is there to take them to hospital each time or is there when their child has a temp of 38.5 and they don't know what to do or other stupid reasons.

They should spend money on educating on people on what an ambulance is for and what the out of hours gp is for.

My sister is an ambulance driver and training to be a paramedic, she does spend quite a bit of time on wasted call outs, this is what needs to be stopped.

There are less ambulances because in reality we need less. We just need to get rid of the idiots clogging the system up.
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Do you include people getting utterly wasted on nights out in that? From my experience, drunks make up an extraordinary number of calls I go to - often with ambulances as well. I would include drunken fights in that as well...
 
Don't get me started on the drunks!

The ambulance service could also be made more efficient by improving a and e's receiving of patients so crews aren't waiting with patients before a and e take them and the crew can get to the next call. This does come back to getting rid of the drunks/time wasters.
 
Blimey, I didn't realise it wasn't an emergency service. What an idiotic state of affairs!

Signed.
 
Dale_d3100 said:
How many of them are people who think an ambulance is there to take them to hospital each time or is there when their child has a temp of 38.5 and they don't know what to do or other stupid reasons.
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Thats a really sweeping and silly statement to make don't you think?

A temperature of 38.5 in a child of 18 months for instance is very dangerous and could lead to brain damage or even death
 
Keith W said:
Thats a really sweeping and silly statement to make don't you think?

A temperature of 38.5 in a child of 18 months for instance is very dangerous and could lead to brain damage or even death
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So both my children have brain damage?

I should call an ambulance more often as it sounds serious!

Or have you made a very sweeping and highly unlikely statement FYI my eldest had a temp of 41 a few weeks ago. We didn't phone anyone, gave her calpol every 4 hours and calprofen I between, it brought her temp down to low 39s for a day before it dropped down to normal. High temp a in kids is quite common.

A high temp starts with a call to your gp or out of hours service and follow their advice, you may end up in a & e or the out of ours surgery to see a doc if things don't change, but dialling 999 is a long way down the list!
 
Signed - I, too, had no idea that this was not an emergency service.
 
Dale_d3100 said:
So both my children have brain damage?

I should call an ambulance more often as it sounds serious!

Or have you made a very sweeping and highly unlikely statement FYI my eldest had a temp of 41 a few weeks ago. We didn't phone anyone, gave her calpol every 4 hours and calprofen I between, it brought her temp down to low 39s for a day before it dropped down to normal. High temp a in kids is quite common.

A high temp starts with a call to your gp or out of hours service and follow their advice, you may end up in a & e or the out of ours surgery to see a doc if things don't change, but dialling 999 is a long way down the list!
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Actually to be perfectly honest I cant be bothered with you, your talking rubbish mate simple as that

with that I am out of this thread
 
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I have first hand experience of being rescued by paramedics and even before that I respected their role immensely. Myself and a friend survived something thanks in no small part to those people, and my other friend was certainly helped tho he had no chance.

So they should get what they need, we all have probably benefited or may do at some point. It's a service I think is vital.
 
Keith W said:
Actually to be perfectly honest I cant be bothered with you, your talking rubbish mate simple as that

with that I am out of this thread
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My sister works for the ambulance service, so please don't tell me I'm talking rubbish when the advice given is the recommended advice.
 
My daughter had a febrile convulsion when she was 3 , when she collapsed and was fitting on the floor the only number I rang was 999.
 
Dale_d3100 said:
My sister works for the ambulance service, so please don't tell me I'm talking rubbish when the advice given is the recommended advice.
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Well i feel its time for me to step in here, I am a Firefighter but we as firefighters are also on a PT contract with the Ambulance service doing rapid response to CAT A calls in a rapid response car, these fall in to all life threatning injuries from cardic arrest, strokes etc, anyone that could die from their injury/condition

We are given very extensive training to do this role so dont think this is coming from a gloryfied st Johns (no disrespect)

A small child with a high temp and on the verge of convulsions IS classed as a CAT A call and is very serious, you can say that your mothers brothers sisters uncle is a doctor and what not but i am saying your very wrong and if your sister has told you its not serious and does not warrent a 3 9's call then i am afraid she is very wrong too.

I hope people dont read your post and question themselves if they are ever put in that postion about calling for an ambulance for a small child

Merry Christmas (y)
 
Done, I also agree with some of the points mentioned in this thread, education is crititcal as alot of people do call ambulances out for pointless reasons, like a broken finger or small cuts.

Ive seen people call an ambulances for these sorts of reasons, and in all honesty, it sickens me. Ambulances are there for critical situations, life or death / serious injury / desperately needed on scene first aid. Not a free personal taxi to the hospital when people cant be bothered to go to their local gp, or as a portable plaster dispenser.

But out of hour doctors, communication between hospital departments etc. also needs to be drastically improved to help reduce the workload on the ambulance services. Long story short, I had to call an ambulance for my late father when he was desperately ill, I had tried reaching an out of hours GP to do a home visit. Ill point out now, the first phone call for a GP was at approx 1.30pm and I was given a 30 - 45 minute response time as my father was a terminal cancer patient. After empty promises, and countless phone calls saying the GP would be there any moment, it got to 4pm and I had no choice but to call an ambulance. After I got home from the hospital that night, I found a note shoved through the door, from the GP saying he had tried visiting, that I should really think before calling a GP, that I had wasted his time for other patients and a leaflet bluntly outlining the costs and repercussions of wasting an out of hours GP time. The note was signed and had the time on it, well gone 9pm, approximately 8 hours response time, a far cry from the 30 minute response time I was initially given or the "any moment now" from subsequent phone calls.

I found that quite awful, and very upsetting.
 
I'm not sure what difference it makes.
Messing about with a 'title' seems pointless, more so given that everyone considers them an emergency service, irrespective of what the Government calls them.
It wont make a lot of difference to funding, look at the way Police are being treated now by HMG.
I'd far rather they concentrated on getting to incidents, while things are better now, an hour pumping on someones chest waiting for an LAS ambulance is a bit excessive, but wasn't unusual a few years ago.
Thats not to say I am blaming the crews, far from it, but a change in status isn't going to fix that.
 
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