.
Very understanding living in Kielder Zulu, Bellingham being the nearest station which is now a single manned crew.
I read the random acts of reality blog since the start, and very much got the impression that the main problems he encountered (in london) were LOB jobs that had been allocated priority based upon the call centre computers (bad cold = difficulty breathing = priority) - is that still the case, or have they improved things now ?
I'm on the road here in London and I can honestly say that nothing's improved.
They try and mess about with the triage system and when they downgrade one load of rubbish, they upgrade others. One of the biggest culprits are GP's. They claim that everyone they call an ambulance for needs an immediately sense as the condition is immediately life threatening. Very rarely is that the case, more often than not they just want the mildly ill person removed from their surgery.
I'm not sure what the answer to the problem is. The service down here seems to think that micro-management along with bullying staff is the answer. Needless to say, it's not working for them.
We are currently losing a huge number of staff to outer counties services as well as losing them to sunnier climes, at the rate we're going now, the problem will not get worse.
Over the past 2 weeks my service have been testing responses designed to put the patient first rather than just meeting targets
I think this is a huge issue for my work. It seems to have lost its focus that its a service to the public and trying to be run more like a business with targets to meet ... which ultimately is a goal driven by the government for the service to be 'accountable' and have measured improvments ... even though the measurements are not a true reflection of the service provided.
currently being sold off to "any willing provider" across multiple sites and employers/agencies/organisations
This - especially given that these dumbass reforms are being fudged in alongside existing efficiency-savings.
In my part of the world, emergency surgical admissions has [i]always[/i] been busy - but now the trauma lists are getting ridiculously backed-up, with fractured NOFs etc being cancelled 2 or 3 times in a row (i.e. elderly patients are being repeatedly starved for theatre). And A+E is increasingly rammed (whether inappropriately or not) - as services are fragmented, I suspect people will feel they have nowhere else to go.
Hiving-off elective activity was always going to have a knock-on effect on emergency capacity & workforce training - indeed, Lansley & his DOH minions were [i]specifically[/i] warned about the likely consequences. I hope new boy Hunt is prepared for what is coming his way... 👿
loved the responce from the fire person about the new landrover fire engines they carry 1 minutes worth of water.
ok for washing a bike tyre then.
a big fire in deeside, north wales last week, so they sent vehicles from all over north wales, instead of asking cheshire just down the road, or merseyside to send some, as they have a few more,that probably left a major chunk of north wales without cover,
To add some perspective, my mother had a health incident in the middle of the night in their beach house about an hour drive north of Wellington, in NZ. My dad called the emergency services, and was told to stick her in the car and drive to the nearest hospital, as that would be quicker then the ambulance could get there, and did they have their credit card with them ??
Town I grew up in only had a volunteer fire service, a big siren went off at the bottom of the valley and we would run to the window to watch the neighbour run out of his house in his dacks, run to his car and fly off down the hill.
