Abaculus

Yesterday my was mum became unconscious and required an ambulance, an ambulance that took 45 minutes to reach her. Whilst mum's condition might not have necessitated her as a Cat A call (she was breathing), 45 minutes is one hell of a long time when you have an unconscious person lying on a cold floor in a public place, people being near hysterical and crying around you. Not to mention the bombardment of questions.

Having required an ambulance three times during the past year, my mood was not one of panic, or even personally involved (although it was my mother) but detachment which allowed for reflection. I was far enough removed to observe to what the hell going on around me. My mind went back to the States has summer, where I was greeted with a fireman after calling an ambulance. The fire service arriving at the scene is standard practice, and bridged the gap between call out and arrival of an ambulance. Something that is desperately needed here, especially when there are no ambulances in the immediate vicinity but perhaps semi qualified people.

From blog reading, I know that the government's target for an ambulance to arrive is 8 minutes, this time having no bearing on the patient, but just from a statistical viewpoint and more to the point funding. The ambulance drivers yesterday were from Brecon (50 miles away) and Ystradgynlais / Neath (even further), and the ambulance itself was over 30 miles away when it got the call out. Such practices have become the norm, with a PCT faced with increasing debt and a cash crisis, they seem to think it is okay to cover a wider geographical area. My answer, they aren't going to get the cash, if they are unable to meet government targets. That target being 8 minutes. How does the government expect this to apply to rural areas?

If mum had not been breathing yesterday, it would have been damn hard to keep up CPR for 45 minutes, and quite frankly I'm not sure if I could have done it, especially as noone around me was first aid trained. This is where the fire personnel could come in useful, better still more local ambulances please.

Being in the situation I was in yesterday, I was grateful for the blog reading I did especially Random Acts of Reality and Nee Naw. Apart from having already dealt with ambulance personnel, blog reading has helped me be more confident with that I'm dealing with. This is from the point of view of how the control room works, how ambulances are dispatched, and diagnosis of a patient. When the ambulance still hadn't arrived 35 minutes after calling, and my dad wanted to swear at the controller, my mood was detached and told him not to.

"Just tell them she's unconscious and make sure the call is appropriately categorised."

This didn't get very far when he was told to check her breathing (this was already being monitored), when all he wanted was an ambulance.

Mum has to be reviewed tomorrow, but is on the mend, however, the health system isn't. Something seriously needs to be done, as currently we have budgets dictating the nation's health, or rather in some cases, the ability to live.