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Rethinking the ambulance
An 18-month-long project has led to a full-scale mock-up of an ambulance fit for the 21st century.
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BHF Campaign: Emergency Life Support Skills in Schools
Join the fight to get every young person knowing how to save a life before they leave school. Having Emergency Life Support (ELS) skills should be as important as learning to read and write.
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10,000 Calls To New NHS ’111′ Helpline In First 2 Months
Over 10,000 calls have been made to North Derbyshire’s new non-emergency NHS 111 number since it went live two months ago.
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Ambulance breaks row offer rejected by Unite members
Ambulance staff with the Unite union have rejected a new deal to increase payments for having their breaks interrupted by emergency calls. The death of Mandy Mathieson, of Moray, brought the row to wider public attention. An ambulance technician stationed close to her home did not respond to a call as he was on a [...]
UK News
Ambulance overturns in Essex on ‘blue light’ call
An ambulance overturned and crashed into a ditch while carrying a patient on an emergency “blue lights” call in Essex. The East of England Ambulance Service said a collision involving a van happened at about 10:25 GMT in Main Road, Danbury. The patient, aged in his 70s, was cut free and moved into another ambulance. [...]
Union claims East of England Ambulance Trust ‘misleading public’
The East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust (EEAST) is misleading the public by distorting emergency response times, a union has claimed. The GMB said the trust was marking 999 calls as “target met” when the emergency was still ongoing, to hit targets. The trust strongly denied the accusation, calling the claims “untrue, unacceptable and [...]
Paramedic sues for £100k over assault
A paramedic who was off work for six months after being attacked by a patient is suing ambulance bosses for £100,000 after claiming they did not tell her the call-out was dangerous. Lynn Sutherland was punched and kicked by 16-year-old Grahame Donnelly after racing to his home amid fears he had taken an overdose of [...]
NHS 111 risks increasing pressure on A&E and urgent care
Unions have urged the government to slow down the roll out of the new non-emergency NHS telephone service amid fears a lack of nursing input could increase pressure on other services. NHS 111 is due to replace NHS Direct from April 2013. But unlike NHS Direct, which is a national service, contracts for NHS 111 [...]
Six months’ detention for teenager who threatened to stab paramedics
An Angus teenager who threatened to knife two paramedics has been sent to a Young Offenders Institution for six months. John Brand was so aggressive that they locked the door of their ambulance before driving off for their own safety. Brand’s lawyer blamed the youth’s actions on the shock reaction to a beating. Depute fiscal [...]
NHS waiting times soar by 40% in one year since targets scrapped
The number of patients waiting more than four hours in hospital accident and emergency departments has jumped by 40 per cent in a year, figures show. Nearly 900,000 were delayed for this length of time in 2011/10 compared to just under 600,000 in 2009/10. Last year the Government scrapped a target brought in by Labour [...]
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World News
Toronto paramedics rally for essential service designation
Canada – Scores of paramedics rallied outside Toronto City Hall on Tuesday demanding they be declared an essential service in the face of a potential work stoppage that would cut staffing levels by 15 per cent. More than 100 paramedics gathered at Nathan Phillips Square Tuesday morning, chanting and waving pickets as they marched in [...]
Research flags up Irish A&E blackspots
Eire – People who fall suddenly ill in rural Kerry, north Mayo, west Clare and south-west Donegal are more than an hour’s drive from a hospital A&E, new research has revealed. The healthcare blackspots have been identified on maps which flag up gaps in access to services across the island of Ireland. Among the worst [...]
Indian TB cases cant be cured
Tuberculosis which appears to be totally resistant to antibiotic treatment has been reported for the first time by Indian doctors. Concern over drug-resistant strains of TB is growing, with similar incurable TB emerging in Italy and Iran. Doctors in Mumbai said 12 patients had a “totally drug resistant” form of the infection, and three have [...]
If Tim Tebow Was a Paramedic
Medic Madness Blog – This week’s “Celebrity Medic” features an NFL star that has captured headlines, stirred up political controversy and helped send the Squealers Steelers back home to Pittsburgh last Sunday. So with all his talent, money and fame, one would imagine that he would be set in his career for a long time, right? [...]
Paramedic seriously injured in collision recovering in hospital
Canada – A paramedic injured in a crash near Souris earlier in January has been upgraded to stable condition in hospital. The crash happened on PR 250 on Jan. 5. At the time of the collision, the ambulance was transporting a patient in a non-emergency call from Melita to Brandon. Witnesses suggested it appeared the [...]
EMT says he touched woman sexually
USA — An arrest warrant for a Connecticut paramedic accused of raping an unconscious woman inside an ambulance says he admitted to police that he touched her inappropriately. Read more USA news and other good stuff at EMS1.com.
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Opinion
Ambulance Crews: The Enemy Within (Alex Massie, The Spectator)
The following commentary appeared on The Spectator website on 7/1/12. Pretty damning stuff, but Mr Massie needs to get some facts straight – it’s not a tea break for a start, it’s an unpaid 30 minute break and the only break most crews get in a 12 hour shift. Anyway, read the article and consider leaving a comment on The Spectator site or @alexmassie on Twitter perhaps…
I know no-one is allowed to say that public sector workers are “cosseted”. And of course no-one can ever say anything nasty about anyone who works in the emergency services. Salt of the earth types, heroically serving the public good each and every one of them. We scarcely deserve these Little Jesuses, don’t you know?
That’s the official line. The truth is a little different. Some of the time anyway. Some people would rather let people die than interrupt their tea-break. Yes they would. Really…
Read the full article – The Spectator
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NHS Trusts
EMAS buys vehicles to carry obese patients
The East Midlands Ambulance Service is to spend about £800,000 on ambulances capable of dealing with obese patients. It currently has only a handful of vehicles capable of moving the largest patients in a 270-strong core fleet. The trust said investing in 80 ambulances with larger stretchers, ramps, hoists and specialist chairs would cut delays [...]
- SECAmb’s private 999 ambulances cost criticised
- 999 ambulances in Greater Manchester now second best in the country
- NHS East Lancashire’s £1.7m overspend after A&E unit closed
- Improving EMAS off bottom of the table
- Yorkshire Ambulance Service in foundation status push
- Health chiefs called on to explain ambulance move
More in NHS Trusts
Clinical Matters
Lung emergencies at 10 year high in Wales
The number of emergency hospital admissions for people with lung conditions in Wales is at a 10 year high, NHS figures show. The British Lung Foundation Wales said patients with conditions like emphysema needed to be helped earlier. Its chairman warned that figures could rise for years as more people who smoked 20 years ago [...]
- La Nina ‘may abet’ flu pandemics
- “Someone’s been shot”: An EMS case study
- Study: Grief Over Losing Loved One Linked to Higher Heart Attack Risks
- Statins linked with small diabetes risk
- Routine aspirin ‘may cause harm’
- ‘Keyring doctor’ that can call an ambulance for you
More in Clinical Matters
Unions
GMB wants ambulance service upgraded to full emergency status
The GMB union is to seek an upgrade in the status of the Scottish Ambulance Service from an essential service to an emergency service like police and fire rescue. Union negotiators made the request during talks with Scottish Ambulance Service management in Edinburgh on Monday. The union also called for Scottish ministers to intervene in [...]
- Ambulance breaks row offer rejected by Unite members
- Ambulance ‘break’ offer rejected in GMB vote
- Pay freeze
- UNISON: House of Lords Holiday Pay Victory
- UNISON: Concerns about ambulance staff morale
- UNISON: Ambulance crews being attacked and abused
More in Unions
Equipment
Batteries fading on 999 calls
Medical equipment used to revive heart attack patients was so poorly maintained that machines were on the brink of running out of battery power, it emerged today. Some defibrillators were flashing warning lights alerting paramedics they were about to go dead, a report to councillors in Staffordshire has revealed. Bosses reported the problem to the [...]
- Getac rugged laptop passes crash test for emergency vehicles
- Rethinking the ambulance
- TeleGuide 111 to transform NHS patient sorting
- 10 Products From EMS World Expo 2011
- Demand for bariatric ambulances ‘on the rise’
- Ambulance Of Tomorrow Unveiled
More in Equipment
Health & Safety
Company didn’t call ambulance for worker with broken neck
A trained first-aider assessed Mr Hill but did not recognise the seriousness of his injuries. Nobody called an ambulance and instead the first-aider drove Mr Hill by car to a hospital, where he was diagnosed as having suffered a broken neck and wrist. He spent six weeks in hospital and 14 weeks in halo traction. [...]
- Shift work is a health risk
- Ignorance of first aid behind health and safety concerns
- First aiders a must for all businesses
- 999 crews to lose ‘health and safety’
- What Is First Aid? What is the Recovery Position?
- Hazardous Area Response Teams
