no luck calling an ambulance

This is terrible. What is the point of the ambulance service if there is that sort of wait? I hope you are beginning to feel better.

Ideally ambulances should only be requested when no other means of transfer to hospital is possible. Obviously if someone may have a cardiac arrest or is haemorrhaging or is immobile from a fracture they may well need an ambulance. Could your daughter not have taken you in the first place to hospital? Hope you are soon feeling much better.

I agree with mumofmadboys but am happy that the outcome was a good one. Ambulances do so much more than just transport patients to hospital these days, the paramedics will test e.g.do an ECG at home and administer treatment in the ambulance if they can. It is understandable that you were in acute pain but there are also people who think they will be seen more quickly at A&E if they arrive by ambulance. That may be why you had such a wait.

Calls are categorised and more serious cases will jump over less urgent cases it may not seem fair but because of the amount of calls now there has to be some criteria.
Sorry you had to wait so long I hope you are feeling much better.

I was taken to A&E by ambulance on Monday after fainting with severe gastric pain - my OH is a retired GP was very concerned and he said I looked "like a corpse" - I understand that the ambulance arrived within minutes although I was "out of it" and only came round as the paramedic was sticking a needle in me. I spent 5 hours on a trolley in the hospital corridor, but I have to commend every person who helped me - they were calm, patient and efficient. I could not fault them. Luckily the pain subsided over time - it seems that one of my polyps "burst" - I did not know they could do that. But another gastroscopy is being ordered.

The paramedics were wonderful, prioritising pain relief and then doing every necessary test in the ambulance. They were brilliant.

I can't praise our local ambulance service highly enough. A month ago DH woke me up at 2.30am with chest pains spreading to his left shoulder. He had been coughing badly for over a week with the virus that everyone seemed to have at the time but I wasn't going to go along with his, 'I've probably just pulled a muscle' theory.

I rang 111 and after a brief chat they decided to send an ambulance. DD lives next door and her phone was going straight to voicemail so I quickly got dressed and grabbed a torch. By the time I got to the back door the first responder was getting out of his car. The ambulance arrived a few minutes later and we are a long way off the beaten track - a mile from the main road down a bumpy farm lane so top marks to them!!

They did an ECG, decided it was an asthma attack rather than a heart attack and had him in A&E in less than an hour from my 111 call.

This was the first time we've had to call for an ambulance so I was quite stunned at the brilliant response!

In rural areas, ambulances have to cover a large area. Here in the West Midlands, an ambulance can begin the day at a call out in North Shropshire, take the patient to a hospital in Telford, then be the nearest available ambulance to an emergency in Worcester. This doesn't allow for waiting times at hospitals when they still have responsibility for the patient until they hand over to A&E. Also, since the calls are graded, it can be that an ambulance on its way to one call-out is diverted to a higher grade emergency. It sometimes amazes me that the ambulance service functions as well as it does!

Mumofbadboys....if my daughter had been available she would have taken me to hospital herself, in the first place.
She was at work without her car.She took a taxi home, picked up her car then drove to my house 1hr drive. Then 40mins drive to the hospital.
I was in too much pain to go by taxi.

The outcome was good, we went to the hospital of our choice.
I do know of course, that heart and stroke problems are priority and so it should be.

Out here in deepest Herefordshire I had an emergency with OH a couple of years ago. It was a weekend but I phoned surgery, was rerouted to the out of hours service and they listened to my plea. Could I drive him to hospital? No - so a first responder doctor was dispatched. 40 mins later Doctor had arrived and we knew it was not an emergency. So I felt we were well served.
The trouble is that some of us grew up with ambulances just being viewed as a convenient means of transport to a hospital - now they should be viewed as an Emergency service in their own right....and used for that purpose.

Like Merlotgran, I also had a great experience of the various emergency services fairly recently. I have a history of heart problems, and was unwell during the night. DH Called 111, and a fire engine arrived, being the first responder. Then came the paramedics, finally an ambulance, that took me to hospital. I cannot fault them and their swift arrival at our home.

While I sympathise anneey that being alone and in pain is frightening I don't think ringing for an ambulance should have been your first response. If you were in exteme pain at the weekend you should perhaps have rung your daughter then or your GP surgery on the Monday.

But it's easy for me to say that as I wasn't the one suffering and I'm glad that you are feeling better now.

anneey i think you done bloody well to last so long without help. Why anyone would expect you to be alone in agony with an undiagnosed condition is beyond me.Ambulances are for all emergencies not just cardiac arrests.As your DD lives an hours drive away she isnt local.
Glad you feel better

So hope you're on the mend now Aneey. DH had a terrible nose bleed some time ago-the blood was pumping out-very scary. Rang 999-first time in my life-absolutely useless, said it would be 4 hour wait. Can't recall how it ended up that night-it was so traumatic I think I've forgotten! It happened again in the day, took him round corner to local GP who plugged his nose so I could drive him to hospital where he was kept in for a few days with a tampon up his nose, poor man. Just a mechanical failure due to age. . . .

I would call an ambulance for heart, major accident, other life threatening stuff. But anything else I would phone surgery or 101 for advice - or make my own way to hospital if possible and if necessary.

We've had to call out ambulance 3 or 4 times in the past few years - last time was last year. My experience is that they stay on the phone talking to you until the ambulance arrives. They tell you what to do and ask questions etc. until they arrive usually within minutes it seems. Brilliant!!!!!

"A tampon up his nose..."
Would it be worth having a packet in the bathroom cupboard? But how to get past the checkout assistant........

I know, I know lol!

Over the last 5 years we've only had an ambulance twice - bith time ordered by a doctor _ and both turned up much sooner than I expected. I was still getting dressed the first time.