As someone who has many family members involved within the emergency services this article is nothing new. But to many this is an insight into the other side of the collapsing ambulance service. Just thought it might be of interest to the stw emergency services members, keep up the good work guys.

http://brokenparamedic.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/30-year-veteran-paramedic-with.html?m=1

This is sad as I think too many people simple use the emergency services as “taxi services”.

Where I used to work here because the organisation want to “play safe” I was told “Oh, just call the emergency service …”

In the far east we don’t call emergency services unless we are half dead, near death or almost dying we get a taxi or public transport etc instead.

Appalling treatment of a long-serving paramedic by both the service and the professional body.

Trouble is, if you do anything but hang him out to dry for raising perfectly legitimate health and safety concerns, the whole house of cards comes tumbling down. There is nothing particularly unusual in the kind of working practices expected of this guy.

As one of the comments said, the tube drivers’ union is prepared to call them out over a driver who was sacked for being over the alcohol limit – where is this guy’s union?

I’d read the blog earlier. Couldn’t happen where I work but I am appalled at how this guy with 30 years service has been treated.

Shortly followed by Paramedic in trouble after crashing ambulance or mis treating a patient due to exhaustion and lack of legal breaks and rest periods.

It amazes me that people feel safe being treated and looked after by people who are knackered and overworked to that point. When they were complaining that junior docs should be exempt from 48hr working weeks I was shocked. I don’t want to be seen by somebody who has worked 48hrs that week or who has worked all day and then been out on call all night.

where is this guys Union

Probably in talks with management on the golf course!

lots of jobs work 12 hour shifts, strange the ones who make the rules work in an office and only attend 9 till 5 and pose little risk to othes through being tired.

Obviously the dirty tricks dept of the ambo service has decided this chap has done wrong and did its best to get him thrown out as a warning to others dontrock the boat or youre out.

In the far east we don’t call emergency services unless we are half dead, near death or almost dying we get a taxi or public transport etc instead.

Something last weekend hit home how lucky we are in this country and how many take this for granted.

We stopped off for a quick toilet break at Tyndrum (scottish highlands) where we stumbled upon a scene where an elderly chap had (apparently) suffered a heart attack on a bus and was now laid out on the ground. I watched a helicopter land in a field next to me, two medical professionals get out and tend to the guy, before then whisking him off by helicopter to a hospital where he’d no doubt receive world class care.

Now, putting aside the debates as to whether this is “free” or not…the fact remains that in this country you just dial a number and someone will come to help, regardless of where you are, your situation, your condition, your background etc etc. Amazing stuff.

Contrast this to a situation I encountered not long after arriving in Cambodia a few months ago. Guy hit by car in the middle of the street….pretty much left for dead. No one will come. Scary stuff.

I think we (well, some anyway) expect too much from our paramedic services in the UK, without really thinking about it. You just dial a number and help will come. “Who cares if they’re exhausted, I’ve dialled the number, send someone!”

lots of jobs work 12 hour shifts, strange the ones who make the rules work in an office and only attend 9 till 5 and pose little risk to othes through being tired.

trying to think of the last time I saw any office working 9-5, obviously nobody in an office ever has to make difficult and critical decisions.

Tiredness is not something to MTFU through, too many people do.

He writes some good blogs that guy.

I can’t help but think there’s a lot more to that story than even the HCPC is giving, he was only there as on that so nothing else would be reported that his management team would be aware of.

However, that is an insane amount of time to go without a break. Something failed there and would like know what it was as I’d hate to think it would happy in our service.

I started a new role last night which is prominently there to support staff, moving away from a blame culture, my role is to coach, mentor, provide welfare and moral support to staff. Something that as already been adapted by other services and has the potential to motivate staff to get them back to where we once were.

Tough one that. Given that every gov kick the PS at every opportunity. Pay and lack of staff is our biggest gripe. Not much a man in a dept can do about that.

Yup same issue with us is lack of staff, retaining staff can stop it getting worse and attracting new staff. In a few years full Uni lead Paramedics are stating to appear. They have no obligation to a service so can cherry pick their employer. Attracting them is going to be essential for all ambulance services.

In the far east we don’t call emergency services unless we are half dead, near death or almost dying we get a taxi or public transport etc instead.

If you are in an ambulance in Bangkok, you’ve pretty much had it. If it’s up country and you have been thrown in the nback of the rescue pick up – you have probably had it.

Emergency services in the UK are spot on, shame to see them being treated to poorly

peterfile – Member

I think we (well, some anyway) expect too much from our paramedic services in the UK, without really thinking about it. You just dial a number and help will come. “Who cares if they’re exhausted, I’ve dialled the number, send someone!”I don’t really think we do(right thinking people that don’t abuse the service). If it’s broke it’s because it’s not getting funded properly, not becasue we expect too much.

I think we should expect alot. But it should also be funded and staffed properly.

Confusing bit in there. Had he been suspended before the incident?

Confusing bit in there. Had he been suspended before the incident?

No.

His employer had finished him due to the incident, the HCPC the professional body that all Paramedics have to registered with suspended his registration for 12 months. This means he can’t practice as a Paramedic at all now for at least 12 months.

If it’s broke it’s because it’s not getting funded properly, not becasue we expect too much.

I’d say it’s a bit of both, if there was less inappropriate calls the cost of those would make huge savings.

I don’t really think we do(right thinking people that don’t abuse the service). If it’s broke it’s because it’s not getting funded properly, not becasue we expect too much.

And therein lies just one of the myriad of problems. Funding of the ambulance service is one thing but it’s the cuts in other areas such as social services, mental health etc. which have a major impact on the workload of ambulance services and A&E. Public expectation has also changed dramatically over the last few years, as has the way GP’s work.

There is no easy solution and target led funding, together with fines for failing to meet targets only compounds and confuses the issue.

If it’s broke it’s because it’s not getting funded properly, not becasue we expect too much.

I think some folk do expect too much.

I’d say it’s a bit of both, if there was less inappropriate calls the cost of those would make huge savings.

I was with junior 1 at the skate park last summer. One of the lads had had a bit of a tumble and went down heavy on his arm. He was at the very worst, walking wounded with a bit of a sprain – maybe not even that to my untrained eye, but he insisted on calling 999 for an ambulance. Quite rightly IMHO he must have been put to the bottom of the pile of jobs, because he was still sat there chatting and laughing to his mates over an hour later. The lazy sod could have walked to A&E in about 15 minutes.

On the flip side, junior 2 broke her tibia skiing at Cairngorm 10 days ago. She was skidooed/trained off the hill and treated in the ranger building at the bottom. I was all for driving her the 45 minutes up the road to Inverness A&E, but the medics advised against it and called an ambulance for the journey which arrived within about 20 minutes.

The rise of mobile ownership and the entitlement culture has a lot to answer for.

I’ve left frontline ambulance work for the above reasons. I now sit in control “re-triaging”. I have a 60+% success rate with reducing so called life threatening 8 min responses to to 20 min responses. It doesn’t sound much, but it makes a huge difference.

If things work out the way I’m planning, I’ll leave the NHS for good soon after 12 years. I’ll be sad, but i can’t say I’ll miss it.

What upsets me is that because one service is struggling with budget/morale etc, someone thinks another service should get in on the action. My uniformed public service already deals with some of the tough to achieve jobs that another uniformed service should be funded and equipped for. The future is taking more of that work on in addition to our traditional role.

And you can’t speak out against it especially while the threat of redundancies due to an ever depleting budget thanks to our current government who have systematically smashed us over the last five years.

Couple of our guys were reported for a similar thing. Maternity transfer from Aberdeen to Glasgow came in 3/4 of the way through their shift, meaning they’d finish at least 3 hours late. They declined the job on safety grounds, as did 2 other crews.
Once all of the details emerged, it became clear the hospital had requested a transfer several hours earlier. The request had been deferred until a “quieter” time.

Drac – Moderator
I’d say it’s a bit of both, if there was less inappropriate calls the cost of those would make huge savings.

Aye but until someone can figure out a way to stop the inappropriate calls, that’s just part of the service and the budget should cover that too.

We have to adapt yes but it really shouldn’t need to be like that.

It can be used a little to our advantage to by winning the contract to provide out of hours, that we get paid more for none transport than we do for transporting.