North West Ambulance Service declares major incident
- Thread starter MrSki
- Start date
MrSki
Who am I to say you're wrong
In an odd way I hope so & not terror related or some other major disaster. Still Fucking Hell!
LDC
On est tous des pangolins
I heard another Northern ambulance service got very close to calling one a week or so ago as well.... That was pandemic related. They had about 200 calls waiting.
I don't remember any major incident in which the first we heard about it was that the ambulance service had declared an emergency, so every likelihood it's covid-related. Shit.
Lord Camomile
Yipchaa!
My friend who works for East of England has said they're reducing meal breaks from 45mins to 30mins, and have removed a provision that meant if crew have to take a particularly late break they get paid £20 (union-won, basically to disincentivise crew being forced to take a late break).
General opinion seems to be they're gearing up for non-stop shifts over winter.
It's all so very fucked
General opinion seems to be they're gearing up for non-stop shifts over winter.
It's all so very fucked
MrSki
Who am I to say you're wrong
No but neither does a major terror event that would put even more stress on the local hospitals.
MrSki
Who am I to say you're wrong
Yeah it took them 45 minutes for first response to get to the Manchester arena bombing so I doubt you would hear it from them first.
They said on the local news tonight that the NW Ambulance are requesting that you only call them out if it's actually life threatening. Never heard that on the news before
Lot of flooding and flood warnings round these parts and I'd be highly surprised if the ambulance service didn't have a staff shortage anyway, because lots of them must have the virus or be isolating.
Lot of flooding and flood warnings round these parts and I'd be highly surprised if the ambulance service didn't have a staff shortage anyway, because lots of them must have the virus or be isolating.
Thora
Differently Ethical
Isn't that kind of the rule with ambulances anyway?
I would have thought so. Maybe that's why it struck a chord with me.Isn't that kind of the rule with ambulances anyway?
But I suppose there are cockwombles who call an ambulance if they break a nail or call the police because their internet is down.
Bahnhof Strasse
Met up with Hannah Courtoy a week next Tuesday
Isn't that kind of the rule with ambulances anyway?
Not always, I have been carted off twice in my life, both following accidents where I was unable to walk. Which is pretty much the definition of ambulance.
wemakeyousoundb
hopefully not gimboid
or kfc runs out of chicken...
Now as you say that, it dawns on me that I have been carted off in an ambulance when my Achilles tendon decided to go on strike.
So yes, I did know that ambulances aren't always for life threatening situations.
purenarcotic
Conveniently Pocket Sized
Isn't that kind of the rule with ambulances anyway?
They get calls when old people fall over, when someone has already died, when a kid breaks their leg... they get called out for all sorts of non life threatening things. None of those things are considered unworthy of an ambulance, but when under strain they try to get people not to call for those issues e.g can a taxi be taken to A&E for the broken leg etc.
miss direct
misfungled
Oh thats terrible. This morning I heard loads of sirens (not heard before from this house)
People call an ambulance for all sorts of reasons. My mother in law calls one if she has sciatica for example. No amount of explaining helps. A big bit of it is she can’t get a GP appointment. Another bit of it is she called 999 when she was having her stroke and the ambulance took over 2 hours and in the end my FiL and a taxi driver took her under the arms and dragged her into a cab to hospital.
Other people call 999 because they’re lonely, mental health issues, drink and drug abusers. Or because they have injured themselves but it’s not life threatening.
Other people call 999 because they’re lonely, mental health issues, drink and drug abusers. Or because they have injured themselves but it’s not life threatening.
purenarcotic
Conveniently Pocket Sized
We had to call one for the wife when she tore a ligament in her back and literally couldn’t move. I couldn’t move her and she couldn’t have got herself to hospital because, well, she couldn’t move. Lovely paramedic had done exactly the same thing and was very firm about telling us off when we apologised for calling them out. Gas and air is a marvellous invention.
cupid_stunt
Chief seagull hater & farmerbarleymow's nemesis.
Surely they have some idea?
North West Ambulance Service 999-call surge declared major incident
The North West Ambulance Service say it is "extremely busy", especially in Greater Manchester.
www.bbc.co.uk
MrSki
Who am I to say you're wrong
Surely they have some idea?
North West Ambulance Service 999-call surge declared major incident
The North West Ambulance Service say it is "extremely busy", especially in Greater Manchester.www.bbc.co.uk
LDC
On est tous des pangolins
Surely they have some idea?
North West Ambulance Service 999-call surge declared major incident
The North West Ambulance Service say it is "extremely busy", especially in Greater Manchester.www.bbc.co.uk
Suspect they haven't had a chance to look through the data and reasons for all the calls and make a judgement yet. Obviously it'll be a mix of a few factors rather than a single one anyway; staff shortages, the pandemic, and then a few factors like bad weather and post half term maybe? Ambulance services are often skating on thin ice in the winter anyway, it wouldn't take much to tip over into a major incident.
elbows
Well-Known Member
Yeah combination of factors, many of them pandemic related would be my bet. A couple are hinted at in this local news item. eg the staff issues you mention, but also problems with how long they are having to wait at hospitals to hand over patients. All of these factors combined with whatever is happening with level of covid victims seeking care, and stuff like normal very busy Monday levels of demand on the service.
www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk
NWAS declares major incident: Union boss has 'never known anything like it'
"Traditionally, Mondays are often a very busy day for us and we are unsure as to why we are seeing a surge today"
LDC
On est tous des pangolins
Yeah combination of factors, many of them pandemic related would be my bet. A couple are hinted at in this local news item. eg the staff issues you mention, but also problems with how long they are having to wait at hospitals to hand over patients. All of these factors combined with whatever is happening with level of covid victims seeking care, and stuff like normal very busy Monday levels of demand on the service.
NWAS declares major incident: Union boss has 'never known anything like it'
"Traditionally, Mondays are often a very busy day for us and we are unsure as to why we are seeing a surge today"
Ah yeah, I forgot the hospitals being a massive choke point. Crews sometimes gets stuck waiting hours to hand a patient over to A&E, which of course has a knock-on impact to everything down the line.
We had an incident a few weeks ago when my mother in law, 80 years old and suffering from Alzheimer’s collapsed, we drove over and managed to help my father in law get her into the recovery position. He had phoned for an ambulance straight away. Her breathing was steady and she had a regular pulse, lapsing in and out of consciousness.
The ambulance control rang back twice to see how we were coping, but it was nearly two hours until one arrived.
Thankfully both me and my father in law have many years experience as first aiders. I shudder to think how someone inexperienced would cope for so long. The crew said the delay was getting earlier patients into an A and E somewhere.
The ambulance control rang back twice to see how we were coping, but it was nearly two hours until one arrived.
Thankfully both me and my father in law have many years experience as first aiders. I shudder to think how someone inexperienced would cope for so long. The crew said the delay was getting earlier patients into an A and E somewhere.
cupid_stunt
Chief seagull hater & farmerbarleymow's nemesis.
It doesn't seem to have been a problem with waiting at hospitals, just a massive spike in calls.
www.theboltonnews.co.uk
Ambulance service received 2,000 calls in just eight hours - forcing them to declare 'major incident'
North West Ambulance Service has launched a review into the major incident that was declared last night, after more than 2,000 calls were made in…
Gromit
International Man of Misery
The rule is “in an emergency”Isn't that kind of the rule with ambulances anyway?
Sadly people’s interpretation of what “an emergency” is varies considerably.
Any hurt or sniffle a child suffers is invariably considered an emergency by parents for example.
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