ECA’s Touchdown

Well it’s been a while since I last wrote on here, I have been otherwise engaged.

The ECA’s have finally touched down in this part of the world, and it has already caused a lot of commotion, Tech’s refusing to work with them, ECA’s being told that they are not allowed to attend alone in the back of the amb under ANY circumstances.

Bet hey ho, we cant do anything about it, apart from sit back and laugh at the “told you so’s” that we will be throwing back at the management.

Today is a very important day for our service, because today 3 call centre’s become basically 1, all 999 call’s will be taken in one call centre, it is an accident waiting to happen, yet the management think they know best yet again. All 3 control room’s will remain open, 2 of them will just be dispatch points and the 3rd will be a call centre and dispatch point.

The problem with this particular scenario is that the call centre that is taking over the 999 calls is an urban call and dispatch centre, and have only ever dealt with 2 major cities that are very close to each other, the two area’s they are taking over are the other end of the scale completely, they are both extremely rural area’s and are run by local knowledge. Like I have already said, this is an accident waiting to happen, and the death of a patient will be the only way to prove it to them.

We sit here month after month saying “I told you so” to the management, yet they never ever listen to us or ask our advice, we could have saved them so much time and money over the years, yet our thoughts and opinions are not worth anything.

ECA’s and the problems they will cause

We are about to have ECA’s (Emergency care assistants) go live in our county, for htose who dont know, ECA’s are basically Ambulance drivers, they have very limited skills, and cannot convey patients on their own, or carry out many of the emergency skills that Technicians or Paramedics can do, basically they are Techs on the cheap.

The problem we have is that the Techs in our service have refused to be paired up with the ECA’s because the techs do not get paid to supervise staff, and basically if the ECA’s fuck up, then the Techs will be held accountable, and of course they dont want that to happen.

I have also foudn out that one of the clinical instructions that will be presented when they go live is that if an ECA is paired up with a Tech, when they get sent to a job they will have to be immediatly backed up by a Paramedic!, this is a truely stupid instruction, our county is bereft of Paramedics as it is, and to tie them up on every job that an ECA and Tech attends is not only a complete waste of a resource, but is also very undermiming to the Techs.

Illness

Hi all, sorry the site has tbeen slow lately, I have had a chest infection and have felt really bad, I will post some more topics this afternoon!

Back from hols….

I just got back from a week away, I have approved all comments and have enjoyed reading them, thanks for the contributions.

The trouble with living your life working for an emergency service, is that everywhere you go, you feel like your on a busman’s holiday, walking down the road with the kids, and not a care in world, when all of a sudden it’s rudely disrupted by NEE NAW NEE NAW NEE NAW, and you end up pitching up first on scene at the scene of an RTC on the M5, they were extremely lucky!

I am also medically trained, and able to use RRV’s to attend emergencies, so when your off duty, your never really off duty, because things always tend to happen around you, this week I have been to the coast, during which I helped someone out who had ditched their car, I was first on scene at a rollover RTC on the M5, and also helped out someone having a panic attack!

But you know, I wouldnt have it any other way.

What would you do?…..The answer

As you can appreciate the job of being an Ambulance dispatcher is sometimes a very difficult one, and it’s one you get zero praise for, making decisions is a key part of the job, if you cannot make decisions then you cannot do the job.

Below I set a question for you all to have a look at and decide what you would do in that situation, some readers asked if they could have more information, sometimes you just dont get given all the information and you have to work with the limited info you have been told. Another said that he would send to the trauma patient first because most 1 year olds with difficulty in breathing only have a cold, and yes he would be right most of the time, but I cant go on what “normally” happens, lets say for example that the trauma patient has a minor knock, and whilst I sent my ambulance to that patient, the other child had severe breathing difficulties and died, that raises two issues for me, the first issue is that I alone have to live with the fact that I let a child die because I thought it just had a cold, and the second issue is that when the coroner starts asking questions, what do I say to him??

“yes sir in my advanced medical opinion I thought the child had a cold”

“but the call card says breathing difficulties, so why did you ignore the life threatening information that was presented to you?”

I wouldnt be able to answer the coroner and I would be in serious trouble.

The correct answer to the question is that there is no correct answer, but you have to be able to justify the decision you made, so if you decided that because trauma victims go down hill rapidly that you would send that child the ambulance that would be fine, the same goes for the child with breathing difficulties.

What would you do?

My job is all about making decisions, I have to decide who should have an Ambulance over someone else who is in desperate need of help. Sometimes whichever option you chose it will be the wrong one, there is no getting away from that fact.

Let me put a question to you:

You have one Ambulance left to utilise, two 999 calls come in at the same time and in the same area, one 999 call is a one year old child with breathing difficulties, the other 999 call is 5 year old child who has been hit by a car.

Both calls came in at Exactly the same time, and details of both children are from a 3rd party, so they are unknown.

Which would get your Ambulance and why?

Following on..

The previous post which concerns the ASU announcment is somewhat worrying, I have calculated my earnings now against my earnings with their new proposal, and I will be £477 short.

Another blow to the overworked and understaffed NHS ambulance workers.

ASU announcement

Proposed changes to Unsocial Hours Payments

The proposed agreement for Unsocail Hours payments has now been published for consultation we have reviewed the document and now seek members views

The NHS Staff Council have now agreed a draft proposal for enhanced payments for working nights weekends and public holidays, the full document can be dowloaded by clicking on the link to the right of this page.

It would now appear that the earlier concerns expressed by the ASU have been addressed in so much that;

• The new payments will be count towards your pension.
• They will be paid when you are on annual leave.
• They will be paid when you are off sick.
• They may also now count towards your total salary for pay on promotion to a new pay band.

The new agreement can by local agreement be used as either a prospective (what we currently use) or retrospectively (paid for what you actually work).
If you are on a set shift pattern it would make sense for it to be calculated prospectively, however, if you are not on any set pattern and you work a lot of nights and weekends you may benefit from the retrospective scheme.

It is planned that this agreement will be implemented by 1st October 2007 for the NHS and the !st April 2008 for Ambulance staff, with transistional arrangements for those staff in band 2 & 3 moving onto the schem by April 2010.

AfC protection arrangements will apply to those staff who require it until 2011.

We would ask that you read the document fully and use the calculator provided, by clicking on the link to the right of this page, to make an informed decision and feedback any concerns you may have to your local branch representatives

EDIT: I have added the calculator to the blogroll!!

Oh no, It’s another full moon

I am absolutly convinced that full moons play a part in the human psyche, you can guarentee that when it is a full moon outside you will get an influx of psychiatric calls and overdose’s.

Or maybe it’s just one big conincedence, either way it’s very frustrating. I dont really have much time for people who have nothing better to do then take an overdose and then ring 999, the majority of such people are attention seekers, occasionally you get a genuine cry for help, when someone really has lost all hope and taking an overdose is a drastic conclusion for them. Then you get the idiots that take overdoses every day and abuse the 999 system.

But there is something about a full moon that makes normal people go that step further, maybe they are close to the edge and the influence of a full moon pushes them that little bit further?

Anyone who is reading this who works in the control room or on the road, just make a note of the amount of overdose’s and psychiatric jobs next time there is a full moon.

“I phoned 10minutes ago”

People who work in control will be able to relate to this.

“hello, yes, I phoned for an Ambulance at least 10mins ago, and its still not here yet”

“Yes sir, that’s correct”

“Why isnt it here?? it should be here by now, I pay my taxes, I demand my Ambulance right now”

“yes sir, the Ambulance is on the way, it will be with you shortly”

“this is unacceptable, it should have been here 10mins ago”

“I am sorry sir,  we are extremely  busy, and will be with you shortly”

“how long is shortly? I pay my taxes”

“yes, but sir you live 15mins away from the nearest town”

“that’s not the point”

Here is a little tip for you people with more money then sense, if you buy a great big house in the middle of nowhere, do not expect Ambulances to just drop out of the sky and land outside your front door, it’s not going to happen.