Elderly who fall at home unlikely to get an ambulance during strikes.

It's certainly shocking that the NHS has been allowed to get into this position. But let's just make a joke of the older people being left cold, hungry or lying in their own excrement on the floor because some idiot voted Conservative.

It's too close to how difficult it was to care for my mother when we did have (some) help for me to find anyone to blame but the government and their brainless supporters and it will certainly not be a joke for those who still are.

Terrifying.

If you do fall tell them you have chest pain!

DaisyAnne

It's certainly shocking that the NHS has been allowed to get into this position. But let's just make a joke of the older people being left cold, hungry or lying in their own excrement on the floor because some idiot voted Conservative.

It's too close to how difficult it was to care for my mother when we did have (some) help for me to find anyone to blame but the government and their brainless supporters and it will certainly not be a joke for those who still are.

Thank you Daisy Anne.

Too late!

We couldn't get an ambulance here before the strikes either.

The service really is seriously underfunded, understaffed and under stress.

Of course, many of the problems are caused because ambulances are stuck outside hospitals with their patients because there are no beds or not enough A&E staff.
If they do manage to take them into the hospital the paramedics must stay with the patient until they have been seen by a doctor.

dragonfly46

If you do fall tell them you have chest pain!

Due to shortages ambulances have to prioritise, saying you have chest pain when you have not means you may get an ambulance before someone with a genuine chest pain which could be fatal.

So can lying for hours after a fall for a very elderly frail person dragonfly although I would suggest you tell the truth.

They may not get an ambulance but will probably get a community responder team who are trained to get people up, probably quicker than an ambulance at the moment. I rather feel the Telegraph may be doing a little scaremongering.

Please do not lie and say you have chest pain, it’s really not that simple.

My MIL had a stroke last year when she was home alone .I spoke to her about 4.30 and her carer arrived at 5,15 to find her on the floor and unresponsive .She called an ambulance and my SIL who lives 5 minutes away .My SIL and her OH arrived at the same time as the ambulance,just 10 minutes from the call .
I'd like to tell you she was fine ,she hung on for 2 weeks unable to communicate except for a big smile when she recognized a voice .Her funeral was just before Christmas .
We couldn't fault her treatment and the young doctor who was on long shifts for the first 4 days that we stayed at the hospital in turns was amazing as were all the nurses .
These people put heart and soul into their work and deserve a decent wage .I and all our family back their strike 100%.Clapping was all very well but it wont feed the bairns or pay the mortgag...get behind them

DaisyAnne

It's certainly shocking that the NHS has been allowed to get into this position. But let's just make a joke of the older people being left cold, hungry or lying in their own excrement on the floor because some idiot voted Conservative.

It's too close to how difficult it was to care for my mother when we did have (some) help for me to find anyone to blame but the government and their brainless supporters and it will certainly not be a joke for those who still are.

Yes.

Plenty of money for the fraudulent Tories, none for the hard working members of our society that keep it going.

If you fall at home today you may not get an ambulance for hours. The service is already broken. I’m behind them all the way, it’s not just about pay it’s about he way the government have allowed the system to run down so badly so these brave men and women are unable to do their jobs properly.

I’m very worried about this. Mum has had three serious falls all ending up with long hospital stays. The last fall she had a brain haemorrhage, which we weren’t aware of until she got into hospital. Every time we’ve phoned for an ambulance they’ve said not to move her. I’m hoping at least they’ll be some advice given as what to do.

They may not get an ambulance but will probably get a community responder team who are trained to get people up, probably quicker than an ambulance at the moment. I rather feel the Telegraph may be doing a little scaremongering.

Not so Lt.Eve, sadly.
Yesterday another newspaper (can’t remember) earlier in the day had shown a photo of an elderly man, lying outside on a pavement. Said he was a cancer patient. Someone had covered him over and placed an umbrella to shield him from the wind. The article said he’d been there for 12 hours.

Later the Telegraph headline caught my eye because of the previous story.

Urmonstangran - Yes this is dreadful that anyone who require medical attention is unable to get it in our country these days. BUT......put the blame exactly where it belongs. With twelve years of Tory rule that has deliberately and consistently run down the whole of the NHS, privatised so much of it piece by piece, underfunded all of it, held back all pay increases, but spent billions of pounds on mates companies on contracts for unusable equipment, clothing etc.

So, nurses, carers, and paramedics, etc. are having to go to food banks to feed their families.

Nobody wants to strike, least of all the Trades Unions representing these workers. It is a very last resort, forced on them by the Tories.

Make sure we all know who to blame for the increasing death rates due to lack of hospital beds, ambulances, etc. etc.

dragonfly46

If you do fall tell them you have chest pain!

I thought that. Or a headache.
It could be a stroke.

The hospitals and ambulance service are gridlocked with patients and have been for some time. I have a learning disabled relative in a nursing home who recently became ill. The doctor phoned me to say he was very ill and he’d requested an ambulance to arrive “within the hour” as he needed IV antibiotics to treat pneumonia and UTI.

I quickly made the 10 mile drive at 9pm to travel with him in the ambulance. I sat with him all night and the ambulance didn’t arrive till 10am.

At the end of his 5 night hospital stay an ambulance was requested by the ward manager for transfer back to the nursing home. There was a 60 hr wait for it resulting in 2 extra nights in hospital.

Looking at that scenario you can see the knock on effect at each stage. When we arrived by ambulance at A&E we spent 13 hours there as there were no empty ward beds. Thankfully his IV antibiotics were started in A&E as they suspected he had sepsis.

During the 60 hour wait for the discharge ambulance I was conscious of the fact that some poor soul was lying in A&E that could have been in this bed.

It’s all a dreadful mess and I can’t see how they are going to untangle it. The care was excellent across the 7 days despite extreme pressure every member of staff is experiencing and I have nothing but praise for them all including the ambulance personnel who are demoralised. They all do a great job under very difficult circumstances.

The NHS didn’t get in this state because of covid although it has certainly played its part. 12 years of Tory government have chipped away at the NHS and left it crumbling.

Joseanne

dragonfly46

If you do fall tell them you have chest pain!

I thought that. Or a headache.
It could be a stroke.

Advocating lying to jump the queue now, are we?

Lt Eve is a paramedic I believe. I'll stick with her advice.

I have had to interact with the NHS more that I would like recently on behalf of relatives, and it makes me very angry indeed to think that people will try to jump the queue when ambulance people in particular are doing their best.

Joseanne

dragonfly46

If you do fall tell them you have chest pain!

I thought that. Or a headache.
It could be a stroke.

That wouldn’t work. They will examine you when they arrive, and take your vital signs. If you aren’t a category 1 patient they won’t take you to hospital, they will return to base to wait for a category 1 patient. There will be insufficient ambulances on the road to enable them to take category 2 patients to hospital and run the risk of being stuck outside A&E for hours because there are no beds.

As somebody who really has had a heart attack in the street and had to ring 999, I owe my life to the rapid response of the ambulance and being "blue lighted" into hospital within minutes. Treatment actually started in the ambulance. Please don't try to jump the queue.

Thank you for that Casdon. It's all a bit of a blur, but I seem to remember the paramedics did a blood test to check whether I was having a heart attack. As soon as it was confirmed, I had aspirin put under my tongue and I was wired up and oxygen administered. There was no way I could have faked it.

My recent experience with my Mum was excellent. Am ambulance came within an hour she was in resus and being cared for with one to one nursing immediately on arrival at hospital. She is still in hospital and her recovery is slow as they have discovered more wrong with her than her GP had found.
The ambulance and hospital staff seem to spend three quarters of their time typing....so much paperwork. I'm behind them all the way. They should be earning the MPs salary and vice versa.

Part of the problem is also bed blocking. Ambulances end up queuing outside A&E unable to get in. I was reading in the Bristol area the Government are pumping in a load of money to try and get people who don’t need to be out of the hospital and back in the community with money going to social care. I think it’s under their so called uplifting scheme.

but spent billions of pounds on mates companies on contracts for unusable equipment, clothing etc.

Knowing this happened at such a terrible time is infuriating and gives no confidence that things are being dealt with competently now .

vegansrock

If you fall at home today you may not get an ambulance for hours. The service is already broken. I’m behind them all the way, it’s not just about pay it’s about he way the government have allowed the system to run down so badly so these brave men and women are unable to do their jobs properly.

If you fall outside in the cold, bash your head badly, cause other damage, you are told may not get an ambulance for hours here. That was before the proposed strikes.

Thank goodness for good Samaritans.