When is an emergency not an emergency?

You have to remember that if you call an ambulance when you are not a real emergency then someone out there could die whilst they are attending to you.

I don’t understand why people call an ambulance when it isn’t life threatening or a serious injury.
I had a bad fall once, a couple of days later a friend insisted on driving me to A&E to get it checked. Turned out to be a fractured pelvis. Another time I broke my arm badly out in the country, I was happy for someone to drive me to hospital but they insisted on calling an ambulance. In the end we had 2! But I did feel a bit of a fraud. Saying that, the Drs at the hospital would not let me go home until they’d operated on it, despite my pleas!
It really annoys me that the emergency services are overstretched by entitled idiots who think because “they pay their taxes” they are entitled to use the anbulance service or police as taxis.

Only once in an ambulance for me. 5 months pregnant and severe pains in my belly. My husband got me to within 10 feet of the car when some kids in a stolen car being chased by police crashed straight into our car. The police called the ambulance for me. Turned out I had appendicitis and the baby was fine.

When I had my first baby 53 years ago I went to the hospital by bus. The nurses were amazed.
the only time I have been in an ambulance was when my poor old husband had a stroke and I went with him,
Sirens blaring, everything.

Many friends are Paramedics and I am retired from a busy A&E Dept. I love watching the 999 programmes with Mum. She is astounded by the calls that people make. We used to call some 'Repeat Offenders', it is the hoax calls that are the worst though ? Last time I called 999 was for a 29 week pregnant woman who had collapsed in the street, must be 30 years ago.

A bit of each Katek! I don't think you would have been wrong to call an ambulance though.....
Hope you are soon returned to good health

This question resonates with me at the moment due to my broken shoulder. I knew it was broken (having done the same thing 10 years ago I recognised the signs) but not only did we not call an ambulance but I undertook a 2.5 hour train/car journey home. I managed to get up using the bed and my good arm as leverage, then we then took a taxi to the station, got the train home, picked up my car and went off to our nearest A&E. I didn’t want to be stuck away from home and also knew that I would be given a collar and cuff sling. I made my scarf into one and dh sat on the aisle seat so I didn’t get bumped. I genuinely did not feel any need to call an ambulance to get me off the floor and take me into A&E. My life was not threatened so was I stupid, stoic or sensible??

I have been taken to hospital by ambulance twice - once when I had a fall and cut my forehead open - that needed 8 stitches and then when I had a bleeding stomach ulcer.
The first time, the ambulance was called by a private paramedic that attended me (he wasn't far away and was called in by friends) the second time we called 111 for advice and they called for the ambulance.
Second way is the way to go, I think. The 111 service ask specific questions about your condition. They can then advise or will arrange a doctor or nurse to call you back to either arrange a home visit or for an ambulance to come to you.

I’ve used 111 twice when I was really uncertain if I needed hospital ( I did) but twice I had no doubts. Falling downstairs and a resultant bleeding head wound was one example.

Best thing to do is call 111. The trained staff will make the best judgment based on your response to several questions. I used them recently after a back pain that was so severe meant I couldn’t take more than shallow breaths. I ended up with a 1st responder, two paramedics and an emergent trio to hospital where I was admitted, had a CT scan and diagnosed with kidney stones. I’d also add that rather than put up with such a pain for almost a week, I’d get medical advice sooner.

Only time an ambulance been at our door was daughters horrendous asthma attacks. Always life threatening and always necessitating at least a five day stay in hospital. Recently called one for my husband who had fallen in kitchen and broke his nose as blood everywhere...I wouldn’t normally call an ambulance , would have used taxi, but he couldn’t get himself of the floor and with three slipped discs me lifting a 13 stone man of the floor was not an option.Did explain on phone that I thought it wasn’t serious but just could t lift him and they sent an ambulance ...waited 30 minutes as not emergency but that was fair enough. They took him to hospital and he was kept in overnight and was operated on next day.... as he’d done something quite serious to the inside of nose. Said I’d done the right thing.

As a doctor's daughter from the generation where his wife and grown-up daughter answered the phone, I would define an emergency as anything life-threatening, or so worrying to the patient or relatives that they need expert advice immediately.

And yes, some emergencies were not in this category, someone had panicked and thought a situation more serious than it was, but that is greatly to be preferred to the person who for instance dies of a burst appendix or a broken skull because "he didn't want to bother the doctor"

I'm astounded at the reasons ambulances are called. I thought they were for dire emergencies not minor incidents.
I've been in an ambulance twice; once aged 11 with severe concussion resulting in a broken skull and once, called by a passing GP, with a dislocated knee which was agony? . I don't remember either journey!
I've called an ambulance twice. For my Grandfather who collapsed and for DH, sadly it was too late for him. I think the Nation need re-educating on how & when to use the NhS services!

My DH dialled 111 twice recently for me. The first time I was in agony with abdominal pain and couldn’t breathe properly. They said they were sending an ambulance but an hour later the ambulance service rang to see if I really needed one. Could I walk about and get to the bathroom they asked. I couldn’t move at all so the ambulance came. I had appendicitis and emergency surgery. A week later my DH had to call again as I couldn’t stop vomiting and had a high temperature. Again 111 sent an ambulance. They checked me for sepsis and decided I could wait four hours until the GP opened. I was embarrassed. When I went to the GP she was horrified at how ill I was with a severe intestinal infection caused by the appendix. It’s a fine line as to what is a real emergency and suspected sepsis is just as valid as a heart attack. I am an avid watcher on the ambulance programmes and am shocked how many people use it as a taxi service. Some of them are near the hospital! We are over half an hour away.

111 will always give you advice on the next step.

Alexa strangely there is nothing there about old people falling and breaking bones. I had to dial 999 for my 96 year old mother who had fallen and broken her hip. I was told not to move her but we waited 6 hours!

I’ve only called 999 once and it was for my mother in law who had dislocated her new hip by trying to put a lamp on at the socket! I travelled with her in the ambulance and found it a very weird experience. They seemed to have a yellow colouring on the windows and although I know the area well I hadn’t a clue where I was until we turned into the hospital.

A friend of mine is a paramedic for London Ambulance Service. He raced to a call to find a young man and his father sitting in a flat and they asked him to fix their heating as they were cold. They had pretended that Dad was having a heart attack so that someone would come straight away. Personally I haven't used or had to call an ambulance and I really hope it stays that way but if I had to and we had to wait because of fake call I would be really angry.

I remember as a small child I badly cut into my thumb by slicing it with an edge of slate in the garden. Our doctor arrived, used yellow penicillin powder to clean it and then put in 3 stitches. He advised my parents how to dress and keep the wound clean, presumably telling them to contact him if it was a problem.
It would help if walk in centres had minor injuries clinics so that these sort of incidents were not forwarded to hospital. Polyclinics are available in Turkey and deal with these and more serious injuries such as burnt legs (husband and bbq).
I’ve only called an ambulance once for someone who had a serious heart condition and was having an attack.
There are so many scare stories about people not being treated when they need help. I suggest that this encourages folk to act “just to be on the safe side”, as is done with 111.
Children to me are an exception. If in doubt take fast action.
I don’t think we are more stoical, just a bit more careful with more experience of life and thus able to make a reasoned assessment.
It’s so difficult in this day and age - no one wants to be accused of negligence.

Only been in an ambulance once at age 13 when I got knocked down by a bus

www.nhs.uk/using-the-nhs/nhs-services/urgent-and-emergency-care/when-to-call-999/

My son answers 999 calls and has a regular caller who makes stuff up. Her latest was that the doctor had hidden a oujie board in her house and subsequently glasses were flying around the room! With a bit of reassurance she calms down.

I have only called for an ambulance for myself once. I put off dialling 999 for at least a day - which earned me a reprimand from the paramedic - who told me "when in doubt give us a shout", and another from the hospital doctor. I think our generation do worry about "being a nuisance" and try to deal with things ourselves.

A and E on Friday and Saturday nights is choc a block with those way over the limit on drink or drugs, but who have to be brought in for their own safety. Their strange behaviour might just be due to be a head injury. I have no sympathy with those who call 999 because they have run out of tampons or baby milk (yes, it does happen!)

I feel our generation are too reluctant to admit they have a real problem, and are scared off by the GP receptionist asking 'is it urgent?' The answer should be 'yes it is, to me' It's just a standard screening process to go through, as opposed to calling for a medication review or holiday jabs.

I rang for a neighbour who had breathing difficulties and he was taken to hospital. He was a lovely old man.
In the last few months of DH's life when he was suffering from a terminal illness he had four bouts of breathing difficulties so I had to phone 999 for him and three times he was taken to hospital.
When I fell down some stairs last year, breaking a few bones, BIL took me to A&E.