Excellent job folks
I'm sure they're doing an excellent job, like all our wonderful NHS paramedics. Pity about the idiots they have to go to.
One question though, how do they balance a stretcher on a bike?
Cancel Independence 3 and put Episode VIII on hold. Hollywood need look no further than the London Ambulance Service’s Cycle Response Team for next year’s summer blockbuster, after its Twitter feed revealed the gritty reality of saving East London while balanced on two wheels. The bike-based team revealed yesterday that its …
They do not - their job is to stabilize the patient until a proper transportation method arrives. Same as those Landy, Ford Mondeo or Honda CRV ambulances NHS started using lately.
While they cannot transport the patient they can get to it much faster that the 4 ton re-purposed sandwich van.
Bicycle (or one of the small cars) can still carry CPR kit, key medications, oxygen, etc. Enough for a good paramedic to keep you alive until the cavalry relieves him.
Yeah, I know, it is supposed to be a joke :) However, as someone who has been "serviced" by one of these flying stabilization teams on the M25 kerb, when you are on the receiving end you do not quite appreciate the humor.
Yeah, I know, it is supposed to be a joke :) However, as someone who has been "serviced" by one of these flying stabilization teams on the M25 kerb, when you are on the receiving end you do not quite appreciate the humor.
Umm pedal bikes are not allowed on the M25 ....
Tromos
My heart agrees. My head says that the problem is there are also too many of the other sort, elderly (mostly) people who already don't call an ambulance when they should - and would be further frightened off by the prospect of a big fine.
Or the people who aren't sure if they are having a heart attack, when they get chest pain.
And OTOH there are the ones who won't give a toss because they haven't got any assets.
If you did a blood test and charged £1000 if you found booze you would get the same effect, but limit the splash damage.
Of course having an ID and linking the test to said ID, then charging £1000 on the SECOND time would probably generate the same income but limit the splash damage even further.
"My head says that the problem is there are also too many of the other sort, elderly (mostly) people who already don't call an ambulance when they should "
Yup. Got a call from an elderly friend last Friday. Dashed over there, discovered he was having a heart attack (not sure about the technical term), called an ambulance. When an hour later in the cardiac unit (artery defurred and stent placed) I asked him why he hadn't called an ambulance the response was "I didn't want to be a bother." Anyway looks like he'll make a full recovery.
Actually, if you die at home it costs MORE.
Not just for transportation but you would be considered an unexplained death and the police would investigate (even if that was resolved in 5 minutes and a "he was 90 years old and died in his sleep, its not suspicious" they still need to get involved.
Same in care homes, in casses of unexplained death the police have to attend and investigate.
So its cheaper for the NHS if you can roll up, declare your intention to snuff it (Preferably with a DNR in hand) then keel over somewhere near the mortuary.
There needs to be proper communication though - my girlfriend has twice rung NHS direct about something, and was told to go to Accident and Emergency to get it seen to. After being treated, she was sent letters both times telling her that A&E was for emergencies only, and that she should ring NHS direct for treatment next time.
"After being treated, she was sent letters both times telling her that A&E was for emergencies only, and that she should ring NHS direct for treatment next time."
I've had similar incidences, but not actually been given a letter... just said why did you come to A&E, to which my reply was "NHS direct told me to"
we had a similar thing. Wife had an asthma attack, blue inhaler wasn't working. Phoned 999 as I'd been drinking so couldn't drive (she hadn't). Ambulance had nebulizer so after 30 mins she wasn't doing too bad, but they took her to hospital anyway. They had supposed to do the handover at hospital but she sat (walking patient) in the corridor waiting. Eventually after an hour she was sternly told that it wasn't an AnE thing and didn't accept an ambulance brought her. The £500 thing would be a fecking disaster.
As a life long asthma suffering and having had many trips to A&E both under my own steam and in the back of an ambulance, I do not believe you.
In fact more often than not I have been told the exact opposite ie "do not hesitate, call and ambulance and come to A&E"
An uncontrolled asthma attack is life threatening and is considered a perfectly valid reason to call an ambulance and visit A&E.
"There needs to be proper communication though - my girlfriend has twice rung NHS direct about something, and was told to go to Accident and Emergency to get it seen to. After being treated, she was sent letters both times telling her that A&E was for emergencies only, and that she should ring NHS direct for treatment next time."
Conversely my mother in law called them back in 2006 and was advised to wait and make an appointment with her GP because they determined her symptoms to not be an emergency. She died of meningitis a few days later.
and frail and have a fall. Then lie in the cold for 24Hours and be unwilling to call 999 in case you get fined more than a months Pension.
Sure some 999 calls are totally stupid and the people making them should be put in the stocks for a week but when you get old or infirm then calling 999 is all there is between you and death.
Now, let's assume for a second that you have allergy to gluten, peanuts, nuts, shellfish or something else of the sort. Let us for sake of argument assume that you have it at a level where if you do not get professional medical treatment you will be dead in 10 minutes. That can happen from allergy to any one of these (even gluten - a few rye crumbs or someone spraying the roast with beer while cooking can make you violently sick, more can kill you).
You eat something, you start feeling iffy. You have _NO_ clue whatsoever if it will be so bad in 10 minutes that you will be in a comatose state. You call 112. By the time they get to you, you realize that it is a false alert.
So, 500£? I would not be so sure. Fining people who deliberately waste emergency services time - yes. This is an offense, can be proved in court, put the evidence in front of a magistrate and nail 'em. Charging a deposit just to deploy an ambulance, police car or a fire engine - that is wrong.
On a point of pedantry, if you are genuinely allergic to gluten (actually it's an intolerance not an allergy) then eating something that contains gluten is NOT life threatening. You ARE going to have an unpleasant 24 - 48 hours afterwards and will be unwell for another 3 - 6 months but you are NOT going to die. I speak as somebody who was diagnosed with Coeliac disease 25 years ago and who has been following a gluten-free diet ever since. (Don't get me started on hipsters who choose to follow a gluten-free diet...)
But otherwise, yes, I agree with you.
About time 999 calls were charged at 500 pounds, refundable in actual cases of emergency. It would either stop misuse of resources or fund extra resources, a rare win-win situation.
It would also kill a lot of people. e.g. She seemed a bit confused and started having trouble speaking. I didn't know what it was, but I didn't call an ambulance because I couldn't really afford £500 on the off-chance and I thought it was probably nothing anyway.
@Tromos, that would result in: 1) people with less than £500 in the bank would not be able to make use of the emergency services and 2) lots of things that you and I might consider to be an emergency would be rated as a non-emergency by the money-grabbing authorities, which would then result in 3) people with serious injuries or symptoms being too frightened to call 999 in case it turns out to be harmless and they won't be able to afford food for the next 3 months.
And if I were to see someone climbing through the window of your house at 2 A.M. while you are on holiday, there's no way I would call the police. It might turn out to be a relative returning from a late night party and has lost their key - then I'd be down half a grand.
You highlight the idiots that waste the time of paramedics. Good.
But mostly it reads like you are taking the piss out of the "First responders" ( as the Americans call them) themselves, because they get through the city on bikes.
I wonder if you'd be quite so chippy if you were stuck out of reach of an ambulance with a broken limb or some other nasty injury.
Perhaps they over-egged the tone of the article a bit, but all I took away was that there are rather stupid people who dial 999 for ridiculous reasons (as we all know), and our paramedics have to attend before going back to their "normal" duties of attending more serious callouts.
Was that sarcasm there? Don't mock the cycle paramedics - it's about range of facility.
Sending out a paramedic on a bike is a damn sight cheaper than sending a fully kitted out, expensive ambulance with full EMT crew aboard - better to send a bike to check on the guy who ate a sandwich than said ambulance.
For example, nut allergy sufferer (me) goes in to anaphylactic shock a motor bike (it was ten years ago, they didn't have the push bikes then) can speed up and apply drugs while we wait for the ambulance. mmmdrugs.
Think 1st, 2nd and 3rd line IT support - this is an IT rag right?
Not only cheaper, but quicker... I regularly see 4 wheel ambulances stuck in queues of traffic attempting to negotiate a path past drivers who are either deaf, blind or stupid (probably all three, I'm usually in East London). A two wheeler (bike or motorbike) is a lot more flexible, and in the case of a pedal bike, can always use the pavement when confronted by incredibly stupid car drivers.
(I'm sure a motorcycle could use the pavement at a push too, but they're not so easy to get up the curbs).
Sure they can't carry as much equipment as a "Big" ambulance, but first on scene doesn't need all that. They can carry enough to stem bleeding, restart hearts, clear airways and get the patient stabilised with plenty of pain relief drugs whilst the "Big" ambulance is still fighting its way through the mini-cabs.
So to the gallant two wheelers, motorised or pedalled, I salute you.
Have you seen that episode of can't-remember-the-name-of-the-TV-programme where the bike paramedic (as motorbike, not as bicycle) got all the way in the middle of Birmingham New Street train station? If memory serves he got all the way to the middle of the pedestrian bridge between the platforms.
Not to mention seeing them under blue lights splicing 3 miles of rush hour town traffic in 5 minutes (that is jumping red lights, having to wait for drivers who fail to see/hear, trying to do it safely so they don't get hurt themselves or hurt members of the public) - phenomenal!
I must clarify I am not trying to belittle the bicycle variety - hats off to them too!
(I'm sure a motorcycle could use the pavement at a push too, but they're not so easy to get up the curbs).
Not sure about the first response bikes used in the UK, but over here they tend to be the large allroads: BMW R1200GS, Honda Varadero, Yamaha Tenere. A fairly usable combination of carrying capacity and agility. Add some Advanced Rider courses to that and London curbstones shrink to a minor nuisance.
Just for clarity, I do actually ride a motorcycle (a proper big one), my comment about curbs was really that the ease of mounting a curb with a heavy equipment laden motorcycle is very dependant on your angle of attack. If you can approach it at 90 degrees, no problem (just not too fast or you'll wreck the wheel rim!). However, if you've just been squeezed out of space whilst running parallel to the curb, you're not going to get a heavy motorcycle to go up it (a nice light trail bike could be bounced on the front shock, but not a fully loaded paramedic motorcycle!), it'll just glance off. A pedal bike can be manually lifted with a single foot down and a quick *heave*.
And no, I'm got going to go and experiment with my motorcycle to find at which angle the "easy" becomes "Oh bugger, whoops, oh no oh no oh no" *crunch*
"Excuse me, can someone help lift this thing off me, it's heavy!!!"
For sure, straight-on is the way to go, surprising what size obstacles a decent big bike can lumber gently over even if heavily loaded, a little momentum helps to overcome lack of traction over smooth objects like curbs! If anyone ever wanted to know what a big bike does when it is not going fast enough to self-balance, try forgetting about a front disc lock while having a few degrees of steering angle on getting out of a parking space... !
Don't the Swiss Police or Army maintain a mountain bike division (i.e. a bike division up in the Swiss Alps)?** Seem to recall the bikes are solidly built so the bloke in the saddle must have legs like an elephant.
** Just checked and the first results threw up a Facebook page or two so I am not going to place the link here. FB can F.O.
The Swiss Army had a bicycle regiment until 2001, but it was decided that the gains in mobility weren't that great compared to the overhead in maintaining such a force. The bikes weighed 65kg with all equipment, so they weren't that fast. They were notionally air-transportable, but there weren't enough helicopters available to move the whole regiment. Vehicle transport was faster and more efficient overall.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/1325485.stm
Anyone who is willing to race through London on a bicycle to save a life while risking their own.
Many emergencies don't require much more than an experienced person with some training and a basic kit , plus the knowledge to know where to refer a patient if necessary.
Have a beer when you get off your bikes guys!
My wife fell and broke her ankle in Positano on the Amalfi coast, right down by the beach, 200 feet below the main roadway. The Italian Red Cross showed up in a "Triporteur Piaggio Ape 401" (think Inspector Clouseau as phone repairman), put her on a stretcher across the back, with me next to her, and we went put-putting in the labyrinths up to the road - where there was a big ambulance waiting... A lot more efficient (and quicker) than a boat or helicopter...
(You haven't lived until you have ridden in an ambulance on the Amalfi coastal highway to the hospital in Sorrento. On arrival you will see "Game Over" flashing in your mind...)
I used to be a Paramedic and nothing surprises me any more.
The drunk dad who called 999 on a bank holiday because his son had been stung by a wasp. The son was fine and very apologetic.
The couple who called saying the husband had chest pain and wanted to be taken to a specific A&E close to their home, nothing on his ECG so we took him to the nearest A&E to where they called us from, 10 miles further away from their home address and costing them much more for the taxi home they thought they would avoid by getting a lift to the A&E near their house.
Every one of these were wasting time and potentially risking the life of someone really ill. Would I charge for an ambulance to prevent time wasters? Not a chance, too many vulnerable people would simply not call when they needed to out of fear of the cost. Charging is a stupid idea that ranks with the idiots making stupid calls.
...that all our "services" seem to be running, do anyone other than journalist actually follow them? Or is this for their own benefit to save them writing up reports when they get back to base. Eg, end of day report "See Twitter account".
I don't have a twitter account so can't "follow" any of the thousands of businesses and organisations I deal with over a year, no matter how many times they ask me to in adverts, catalogues, newsletters, websites etc, but if I did, would I have any time left over to have a life? If it's anything like our company Yammer, it's rare for there to be anything actually useful in the feed, in amongst all the daily inanities and general "I'm doing my job everybody, look at me!" (Yes, I'm looking at *you* sales and marketing people. With a very stern look!)