https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-45246939

Quote:A patient waited 62 hours for an ambulance, while four trusts took more than 24 hours to respond to 999 calls, new figures have shown.

The longest delays in the UK were recorded by Welsh Ambulance Service, which kept four patients waiting for more than 50 hours.

A spokesman said the figures were "not typical" and "represent the extreme end of the waiting time spectrum".

The Patients Association said they were "extremely concerning".

Between June 2017 and June 2018, ambulances from four services took 24 hours to reach patients, including some with breathing and mental health problems.

The trusts said the longest waits were for "less serious calls", and they had to prioritise responding to people in life-threatening or urgent conditions.

Quote:Caroline Hardaker's mother Sylvia, 79, lay on paving stones in her back garden for three-and-a-half hours after falling and breaking her hip in High Wycombe.

She said: "I think I rang six times in the end, and each time they said they would have a clinician call back and then they didn't.

"It was so frustrating, just thinking 'how long are they going to take'? And my mum was going into shock, her arms were shaking. Her arm had gone numb.

"She was obviously cold because she was lying on a pavement.

"The ambulance and hospital staff have been fantastic - its not their fault, the whole system is breaking down.

"When I was a child you were told it would be a maximum of eight minutes for an ambulance, but three-and-a-half hours is completely unacceptable."

Quote:Stephen Clinton, assistant director of operations for Welsh Ambulance Service, said: "We fully accept that a number of patients waited far longer than anyone would like.

"That said, these figures represent the extreme end of the waiting time spectrum and are neither typical nor do they explain the circumstances of these individual cases."

He said in some of the cases the patients were already in the care of medical teams, and others were affected by extreme weather conditions.

The service did not provide details of the four patients who waited more than 50 hours.

But the longest three calls were in the second-most serious "amber" category, classified as "patients who may need treatment at scene or taking quickly to health facility".

The remaining call was rated "green", a classification used for "less urgent calls".

It is cheaper for universal health care. You save a lot of money not buying ambulances and having fewer employees.

(08-23-2018 07:21 PM)banker Wrote:  It is cheaper for universal health care. You save a lot of money not buying ambulances and having fewer employees.

Doubtful.

I served close to 20 years in a community that probably 80% of the population was under socialized medicine and we accounted for a significant part of our EMS department's run volume. Probably a good 60% of those calls were BS, with a good 20% being absolute BS like a headache they had for a week, and a toothache they had been suffering from for a month yet could be bothered to literally walk across the street to the free dental clinic that was open twice a week.

(08-23-2018 08:04 PM)Kaplony Wrote:  

(08-23-2018 07:21 PM)banker Wrote:  It is cheaper for universal health care. You save a lot of money not buying ambulances and having fewer employees.

Doubtful.

I served close to 20 years in a community that probably 80% of the population was under socialized medicine and we accounted for a significant part of our EMS department's run volume. Probably a good 60% of those calls were BS, with a good 20% being absolute BS like a headache they had for a week, and a toothache they had been suffering from for a month yet could be bothered to literally walk across the street to the free dental clinic that was open twice a week.

My favorite part of working triage when I worked in the ED at UAB was sending ambulance abusers to the waiting room. The look on their faces when they got dropped off in the waiting room was priceless. No, you don’t go straight to the front of the line because you come in via ambulance.

(08-23-2018 08:15 PM)dfarr Wrote:  

(08-23-2018 08:04 PM)Kaplony Wrote:  

(08-23-2018 07:21 PM)banker Wrote:  It is cheaper for universal health care. You save a lot of money not buying ambulances and having fewer employees.

Doubtful.

I served close to 20 years in a community that probably 80% of the population was under socialized medicine and we accounted for a significant part of our EMS department's run volume. Probably a good 60% of those calls were BS, with a good 20% being absolute BS like a headache they had for a week, and a toothache they had been suffering from for a month yet could be bothered to literally walk across the street to the free dental clinic that was open twice a week.

My favorite part of working triage when I worked in the ED at UAB was sending ambulance abusers to the waiting room. The look on their faces when they got dropped off in the waiting room was priceless. No, you don’t go straight to the front of the line because you come in via ambulance.

We had a wreck call one afternoon where the only damage to either vehicle was to the tag on the front of the vehicle that hit the other. Despite that the five people in the other vehicle all complained of neck and back pain. We were so busy that we were running this call in an area where we would have been third due and EMS was coming from clear across the county so they had a delayed response. Following protocol we did full spinal immobilization on every single one of them and just waited for EMS. EMS arrives and the Paramedic is absolutely disgusted at the most blatant case of State Farm Syndrome so he tells us "I'm making it clear to the ER when I call this in that they can all be put in triage." He called us a couple hours later to tell us that when he cleared the ER on his last call they were just being seen. Imagine a couple hours strapped down to a spine board and your head secured to head blocks with 2" tape. Gotta love it!

U.S. Medicare patients wait 62 hours for an ambulance as well..

(08-24-2018 07:10 PM)Ohio Poly Wrote:  U.S. Medicare patients wait 62 hours for an ambulance as well..

Have no idea if that is true (I know my mother never did though), but if it is it only reinforces the point.

(08-24-2018 07:10 PM)Ohio Poly Wrote:  U.S. Medicare patients wait 62 hours for an ambulance as well..

Horseshit.

Either provide a link or delete the post

(08-24-2018 07:10 PM)Ohio Poly Wrote:  U.S. Medicare patients wait 62 hours for an ambulance as well..

These are 'average' times, but there is no way you have 7 minute averages if ANYONE is waiting for days.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-healt...SKBN1A42KQ

On average in the U.S., the length of time between a call for help and the arrival of emergency medical services is about eight minutes - but that rose to 14 minutes in rural areas (where about 10 percent of patients waited nearly 30 minutes), researchers found.

And Ambulance services don't who your insurer is

this story can be effectively 'sold' without hyperbole... thanks