Emergency Service

Well, it's that time again. Time to introduce Inspector Michael Brown, author of award winning and acclaimed blog, Mental Health Cop. Normally, I drag him out to discuss all things mental health. However, this time, my narcissistic side, just couldn't resist sharing his words with the masses. Namely, because one of the tails of heroism he refers to is me, and to be brutally honest, I dig that shiz! It's also confirmation that the ambulance service is indeed the BEST emergency service.

So, with all the fanfare it deserves, and a dosage of pomp and circumstance, I present to you, 'Emergency Service'! 

*          *          *          *          *

I sometimes remember to marvel at some of my colleagues and did so again over the Christmas period – ordinary men and women doing an extraordinary job, away from their friends and families whilst we were at home – (it was my turn to be off!) Their pay has been frozen for the last few years with their pensions being eroded compared to those they were promised when they joined up; there is comparatively little or absolutely no training for some of the functions that they are expected to undertake in their role; and sometimes they are patronised and misunderstood by senior members of Government who don’t really get their role at all.

CRIME, SAFEGUARDING AND PERSONAL BRAVERY

A while ago, one of them was at a job where a man had attacked his partner with a knife and the man was known to have a risk history that flags up whenever you attend the address. Back up was a distance away and consumed by an instinct to protect the woman and get to her aid, she went in to that unknowable environment on her own. What she did what she got in there meant the man fled with his knife, the woman was safeguarded from any further threat and it could be declared safe for paramedics to roll the ambulance up to the door. The man was arrested a short-distance away, but that early evidence meant we could prove that he *was* holding a knife during the incident. Crucial evidence, nicely preserved by a brave professional witness who put herself at risk.

You’ll remember this blog was prompted whilst I was off work this Christmas: I remembered what it was like working on the frontline last year – Christmas Eve in particular was a real bender of a shift and resources were so stretched that by about 3am (on Christmas Day!) I was first on the scene of a stabbing. A man so badly injured that his wound was an open chasm in his neck and there were half-pints of blood all over the pavement. I was soon joined by another set of blue flashing lights and before much else could happen, my colleague and I were rolling on the floor with this bloke, fighting him to let us apply pressure to his neck wound so he didn’t bleed to death in the road. We both got knocked about a bit, but nothing serious and wondered afterwards whether this man was as high-as-a-kite on cocaine? But the ambulance crew and more officers turned up and off he went to hospital.

Earlier this year, we had a very mentally distressed lady in police custody – a person in a condition of some particular agitation and obviously very unwell. As various medical professionals have suggested we should, I remember asking the custody nurse whether we could be sure that her basic obs indicated nothing was seriously physically wrong with her – was she actually safe in police custody? The nurse checked the custody record medical forms and admitted she didn’t know. She agreed she should do them again to be certain and saw what I was getting at. Was her heart rate OK, her blood sugar, etc., etc.. The nurse being there with all of her gear, you’d hope and think that a nurse would be able to reassure someone perhaps to a greater degree than someone in uniform that they wanted to check them out, to help make sure they’re OK? This lady couldn’t see that and I patiently watched two of my colleagues spent 90 minutes of constant patient and compassionate conversation turn this into a position whereby the obs could be done and we could relax that she was not potentially seriously medically ill, as well as distressed.

EMERGENCY SERVICE

I could go on and on – the point I want to make here is thatnone of the colleagues I’m referring to above are police officers.

They were all paramedics from our ambulance service. 

It was a paramedic first-responder that intentionally put herself at risk where a man had taken a large blade to his wife, to safeguard her and she unintentionally contrived to be able to provide evidence against him that helped convince the court he was a dangerous liar; it was a paramedic who got physically stuck in to a man who was bleeding heavily but fighting not to be helped; it was two paramedics who came into police custody and spent 90 minutes patiently persuading one of the most vulnerable, psychotic and distressed people I have ever met, to let them care for her.

I could still go on and on – the story of the paramedic in London who continued to provide care for a drunk man just after he’d been hit over the head with a fence post by that man; the paramedic in Suffolk this Christmas who ran into a burning building before the Fire Brigade could arrive to rescue a trapped woman and immediately give her respiratory support; the paramedic who accompanied three officers into a building where there was a risk of a gas explosion in order to assess a man inside – all were hurt when the building exploded, a risk that they knew they were taking.

It is my genuine privilege to work alongside these people – as we do every single day. Despite the very obvious differences between policing and pre-hospital healthcare, there are many overlaps and at the core of it all is dedicated public service at times like Christmas or during family birthdays and other events. It is my view that paramedics are paid peanuts for what they do and they are probably more messed about and taken for granted with the rubbish that is thrown at them, than we realise. The stories of people ringing 999 for an ambulance because they can’t be bothered to walk to hospital or see their GP; the Home Secretary contriving to refer to them as “ambulance drivers” in apparent disregard of the training and qualifications they must have and the media quick to pick up on paramedics not diving into a lake but aren’t mentioning the one who ran into the burning building.

It just beggars all belief that they aren’t considered an emergency service – I have certain views about that!

The practice guidelines for paramedics is a telephone directory sized book and it has four pages of information on about mental health, some of which is wrong! It probably isn’t as widely known as it should be, how many paramedics will say that they want to be able to do more for people in mental distress – they want to access NHS referral pathways, have options for removal to care settings that are more appropriate than A&E and be trusted to take pre-hospital clinical decisions. Let them serve us better, because they want to do it and are currently blocked from trying. We trust these people to get to grips with our heart attacks and strokes and to know what to do when time is of the essence – surely we can open up the mental health pathways and trust their clinical judgements?

So I want to circulate my admiration for my colleagues in green and help build awareness of the stuff they do for you and for all of us each and every day.

We would notice if they weren’t there to do it for us, trust me on that.

Can I Go Down There?

It is with great pleasure that I open the floor to my first Facepalm Friday guest post! This week I welcome the award winning, much revered, mental health guru that is @MentalHealthCop from MentalHealthCop! It occurred to me that all the emergency services interact with the public and therefor, we all come across candidates for the Darwin award on a daily basis! This comedy gem from Inspector Michael Brown is from his earlier days as a police officer. At a guess, it was probably in the late 1870's! ;-) 

"Adult male, wanting to go down there" 

I found the Friday Facepalm idea intriguing! - 999 services see human stupidity on an epic scale and we've all got these stories, but my blog doesn't lend itself easily to letting off the necessary steam around them.  Thanks to Ella, I have offloaded some major stress from my early career.

Well over ten years ago, I was a front-line PC in Birmingham.  My partner and I were called to a gas explosion on a very small traffic island where four approach roads intersected.  A engineer for a telecoms company had been working on underground pipes / cables, on the pavement which rounded the corner of two of those approach roads and had managed to ignite gas by cutting electrical wires.  The subsequent blast singed his hair without causing major injury and sent a thirty foot high flame into the sky.

An early Facepalm! for the engineer - but this is merely incidental to the stupidity that followed.

All three 999 services went down there: Ella's lot were helping the engineer change his underwear whilst Simon and Dennis were using their hoses to put out the fires caused to trees and bushes as the gas plume licked back and forth in the wind, torching anything within it's reach.  The only way to stop the plume of burning gas was to get the gas company to dig up the road around fifty metres away and isolate the supply - this would take hours so we were asked to support cordons on the roads and pavements for public safety.

The fire truck blocked one road, the police car another and the two less frequently used approaches were taped off.  There were two cops and a few fire officers to keep saying "No" to the question that always gets asked on these occasions -

It's been the since human pre-history that when you put a cordon on something, some members of the public will still ask "Can I go down there?"  It's important to understand I'd managed nearly two hours of "Can I go down there?" whilst sweating profusely on a what was already a very hot day, underneath a thirty foot plume of burning gas and we'd had to get another patrol to drop cold drinks up to us because it was quite demanding.  So to say I was a bit tetchy about "Can I go down there?" is to understate things.

The clue is:  my police car is across the road with blue lights flashing, we've taped off the road and you can see highly dangerous flames burning brightly and gently toasting us all.  They're licking backwards and forwards fairly unpredictably and there are fire personnel putting out fires as quickly as they can each time one starts.  You've probably seen other people approaching us who ended up heading back the way they came, so what do you think the odds are that you can "just go down there?"

Then happened one of the most unbelievable things I have ever seen - I will remember this until I die:  on the less often used approach, which was taped off and kept in view, but where no-one was permanently standing, a suddenly saw a young boy approach the tape and lift it in the middle. There was a Mercedes in the road, facing me and the boy looked like he was attempting to allow the car underneath the tape. Hang on: that car is slowly moving FORWARD!!

Stop!! 

*Double Facepalm!*

I ran from the opposite, busier cordon shouting "No!"  The vehicle's bonnet was under the tape, the tape stretching across the windscreen and the boy trying to lift it higher as the car inched slowly forward. There was a hairy arm out of the driver's door also attempting to force the tape higher and flick it over the height of the roof.  "Stop!"  The vehicle was approaching the roundabout on the side where the plume of flames was nearest.  Surely he can see it?!  The fire engine was to the right hand side and he could see it from where his car was and both Simon and Dennis were waving frantically in between planning their second jobs and having a snooze.

"What on earth do think you're doing?" I enquired.  "I live up there." he said, implying outrageous unreasonableness on my part.  The wind blew the flames towards us and I felt the temperature really increase before subsiding as the wind dropped.

"Can't you see the tape, the explosion, the blue lights?" 

"But I live up there!"

"It doesn't matter,  Sir - this road is CLOSED!"

"But I live ... just there!!"

"So find another way around, but this road is closed."

"This is ridiculous - I can just drive on the opposite side of the roundabout.  I'll be home in seconds."

"No you won't - because THIS ROAD - IS CLOSED!"

"You're being obtuse, officer."

"If we're offering viewpoints - I have one about using your son to lift police tape without permission and pushing him into demarked areas of extreme danger.  Shall we talk about that?"

"It can't be that dangerous ... they're letting you move about in it."

"They also let me arrest violent criminals, Sir - I'm guessing you don't want your son doing that either?"

"Fair point."

It took the threat of prosecution to get him to reverse and find another way.  I walked up to his house - it was just fifty yards beyond the opposite cordon and gave the appropriate advice.  I think I had hoped he would have realised the main learning opportunities from this encounter.  It amazed me to find he was still furious for the extra five minutes on his journey.  He informed me of that he would be complaining about my attitude and would like to speak to the duty inspector in respect of the complaints procedure.  Fortunately, Carlsberg do make duty inspectors - a man on whom I've modelled my very own approach to that job.

*Triple Faceplam* - the scale of fail.

We Need to Talk About The Ambulance Service

"An emergency service in crisis?"

Yesterday, I read a brilliantly written blog by @NathanConstable entitled We Need to Talk About The Ambulance Service. If you haven't read it yet, please do so now, otherwise this post won't make much sense! He speaks about a lot of issues that surround the ambulance services in general and what knock on effects that has on the police. Rather than leave a long rambling comment providing my thoughts on things, I thought it would be better explained in a post of my own.

I didn't take anything that @NathanConstable wrote as a dig. It is a discussion that needs to happen, but realistically, it needs to be happening between senior figures in the police, the ambulance service, the NHS and the government. I just wish they'd listen to what we are all saying, where we are not ruled by the politics of a situation! Like Nathan says, for all the inter-service teasing and banter that goes on (and before you ask, my call sign is Whiskey Delta 4-0. Oh, and fireman, hold these fluids, good dog!) there is a mutual respect and a fantastic front line working relationship between all emergency services. We do many jobs with the fire service, some are the most traumatic of jobs we will every see. I do have a huge amount of respect for the job they do. The relationship between ambulance and police is a stronger bond, born from the huge amounts of jobs that we do together. As detailed in 'A Special Relationship' I, along with the rest of the profession, hold the police in the highest regard.

My first thoughts when I read 'The Ambulance Service is broken' was agreement. I nodded my head as I thought about what was wrong with the ambulance service. However, the more I read on, I came to a very different conclusion. Despite its failings with the relatively small things we moan about on a day to day basis (missing kit, hours, breaks, working conditions, pay bands etc), on the whole, I think the Ambulance Service is far from broken and I'll do my best to explain why.

I can't argue with the fact that police are having to wait longer and longer for us. They do. Nathan gave 4 examples of waits he's encountered, but I'm sure he could list another 20 or so without any trouble. And that is probably only the last month or so! I also wouldn't struggle to list the police jobs that I have been cancelled on! THAT frustrates me. I know if I ask for the police, if there is a unit available, they will come. Far too often, we are cancelled for a 'higher priority' knowing full well that police will have to start the wait again. The problem however, I don't believe is caused by the ambulance service alone. It's caused by triage, call rate and hospitals. I'm not saying the ambulance service is totally blameless but it does feel from a front line perspective, that we are being pulled from all sorts of different places, meaning we can no longer function as an emergency ambulance service. Whilst police wait and wait and wait for us, on thing is for sure. Someone else is waiting to!

So, hospitals. Nathan documented seeing 5 ambulances sat at the hospital due to lack of capacity. Well from experience, I'd say he caught them on a good night! Only last week I was stuck at a hospital with 13 waiting ambulances due to a lack of capacity inside. There were patients who could walk and who eventually went to the waiting room but the nurse in charge wouldn't take the hand over, so therefor we couldn't leave. This BBC article - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-norfolk-21999859 documents the problem well. No ambulance service could cope with all 17 of their emergency vehicles being stuck at 1 hospital. Due to huge fines for going on divert, hospitals don't. They just make us wait in corridors. Until the patient is off our bed, they don't become the hospitals patient so departments are in no rush to take the handovers, off a huge queue of ambulances. What's the result? The police are still waiting for an ambulance. It isn't just the police though. Whilst they are waiting, so are dozens of other people who have phoned 999. Is the ambulance service to blame for these delays?

Call rate is another big problem. Year on year the call rate is increasing at an alarming rate. My service alone received over 1.7 million calls last year. Calls are coming not only from the public, but also from GPs, hospitals transfers, the police, the fire service and now the new 111 service, which has seen a huge spike in the need for resources. With government cuts to the budget, there simply isn't the money to replace the 25+ staff who are leaving each month. The crews on the ground are working harder and harder. We are being forced (with financial penalty) to turn jobs around quicker and quicker to try and match demand for the service. Our control room has just started a pilot, of refusing to send ambulances to some calls, in an attempt to ease the pressure. We simply don't have the budget or the resources that the police and fire service have and us such, the service is struggling to cope. 

Despite the calls volume and despite the delays at hospital, there will always be the eternal problem of triage. How does one call get priority over another? Why are the police told an ambulance is on route and then one never materialises? Triage! Calls are categorised, then re-catagorised. Crews are sent, then cancelled for a higher priority, then cancelled for another higher priority, as 200+ calls an hour continue to roll in! The issue is priority symptoms and the police are victims of their own common sense.

When the police call and ask for ambulance back up they say exactly what they see and exactly what is happening and therfore a '20 something year old male with a head injury' which has had a dressing put on it by a police first aider will get trumped every time by a 35 year old female with a cough. Why? Because the general public know what buzz words to use. A cough is cough, but when they call, they say they have difficulty in breathing and when asked if they have chest pain, they say yes, because there is pain in their chest from coughing. Now, you have a situation where an ambulance and a car are sent to a '35 year old female, DIB and Chest pain' because those are the priority symptoms she flagged up. The same problem happens with 111. A simple headache becomes meningitis, prickly heat become anaphylaxis and so on. It is a world wide problem. People lie to get what they want and no ambulance service will ever risk NOT sending an emergency response to a DIB or Chest pain. That is, if all their ambulances are not sat at a hospital or busy doing critical transfers and the plethora of other things we are being called to. And who has to wait? Whoever told the truth!

Again, I don't think this is the failing of a particular service, triage is there to get resources to the highest priority of calls the quickest. You rarely hear of there being absolutely no resource to send to a cardiac arrest. All it means is someone else is left waiting. The AMPDS triage system that is used, is modified world wide and if used correctly works well. Unfortunately, until a cure is found for liars, time wasters and hypochondriacs triage will remain an issue. 

One thing that Nathan spoke at length about was the amount of calls they attend to back us up. It's true. They do, and this is a failing of the service and of individuals. I have worked with a number of people who see the words 'mental health' and call the police. If the word 'assault' appears, the police are called and there is a case to answer for us never going to scene until police are there. Records of flagged addresses are woefully out of date, hence why I've been sent to an 80 year old with chest pain accompanied with armed police and ballistic vest! This needs to change but requesting back up at the first sign of trouble is often too late! As I detailed in 'Please Sir, Can I Have Some More' we are not even remotely equipped to deal with violence against us. The half day conflict management course really doesn't cut it. That job also highlighted how the police are stretched so thin that they also 'have no units to send'. Is the police service broken? I'd say no, but I would say, like us, they also struggle to deal with the demand placed on them by all and sundry! The public, the fire service, the ambulance service, mental health services and hospitals all call on the police and there will always be someone, somewhere, who is left waiting. And who is that? Probably the low priority who told the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth!

Finally, there is the issue of the merger! Now, this was like a red flag to a bull and the only part of the blog I 100% disagreed with. I've made no secret of my distain for this idea in 'Fire Brigade: Hands off our service' and 'Unhappy Trumpton.....Bless!' . It is something that the fire service is keen on, but they are keen on taking on us rather than the other way round. If the fire brigade became part of our HART team then perhaps that would work but that would never happen. They are far too powerful an organisation to lose their identity for starters. You only have to look at the obscene budget they manage to repeatedly procure to see this! £50,000 on a coffee machine at HQ says it all! They have been after part of the ambulance service for some time, namely, to justify their resources. Their cuts under this government regime have been minimal in comparison to ours and the police. I can see no benefit in merging the police and fire and just as little in merging ambulance and fire. I does work across the pond but a) that's how it has always been so the infrastructure is there and b) with the ability to charge for all emergency calls, you can pay for the resources to cover call volume! The more calls, the more money. Over here, with the ambulance service deeply embedded within the NHS and with the lack of emergency service status, I can't see it ever happening. 

This has been a great opportunity to discuss the failings and trials this countries emergency services are facing and I'd like to thank Nathan Constable for writing such a great post. I don't see them as failings. They merely highlight the detrimental effect this government regime is having. I don't think the ambulance service or the police service in this country are broken. Not by a long shot. I  think they both perform admirably and perform over and above what their resources, diminishing budgets and demoralised work forces probably should. And THAT is a testament to individuals who turn up when someone phones 999. It's an honour to be part of the team.

Invisible Wounds

"Female u/k age, tired, mental health problems"

"What's been going on?"

"About a year or so ago I witnessed something horrible. The death of a young man. I suppose, in the days / weeks that followed I expected to see his face in my thoughts. On the night itself I think the adrenaline kept me going until I got home. I just laid there on my bed and absorbed it all. I'd just watched someone die in the most horrific of circumstances and was helpless to stop it. Could I have done more? It was a helpless feeling that I just couldn't shift. His face. It was there all night. As the days past I thought about him less and less. I don't remember when his blood stained face stopped appearing in my dreams but within a month I'd say he was gone."

"So what's changed?"

"I found out his name. I was shown an online article about his death. I suddenly felt I knew who he was, what he was meant to be, what he had lost. His blood stained face came back. I'm plagued by flashbacks on an almost daily basis. I can't get his face to stop invading my dreams. It's weird though, now I almost take comfort in his presence. I can't imagine a day where he isn't present."

"And have you talked about this to anyone?"

"Sure, I've spoken to the people that were there and others. I feel like I'm the only one bothered by this. It's an overwhelming isolation which is eating away. Maybe it's just sleep I need. I can't remember the last good nights sleep I had. I've always had a problem sleeping but now it seems worse. After hours of trying I eventually get to sleep but once drifted off I'm awake again with an alarmingly predictability and the circle starts again. And again. Sometimes I just wake. Sometimes it's a nightmare. I picture his last moments again and again. Not from where I was though. It is as if I was watching it on TV. And I'm not looking at him really. I'm looking at me. It always ends the same though. His bloodied face, distorted, mutilated and swollen, lifeless. It's just......there."

I was clear just from looking at her eyes that this was taking it's toll. She looked drained.

"I have seen things that should upset me since but they don't. Maybe I'm hardened to it. I just feel numb. I try and keep busy to take my mind off it. The more tired I am the more I try and avoid thinking about how tired I am. I know if I think about sleep I'll think about him."

"What about your friends and family? Do they know?"

They do and they don't. They say they do yet I feel vilified for being irritable. Despite how I'm feeling they always have something trivial which is much much worse. Either that or I'm given happy clappy cliche advise about 'staying strong' etc. My mood swings back and forth and I try to only interact with them when I in a good place. It's just easier that way. I'll be fine, I'll get over it, I'm just tired."

"There is help available." 

A smile appeared on her face. Clearly I wasn't in on the joke.

"Yes I know, therapy, drugs, a sick note etc. No thanks. Can't be dealing with a disciplinary and P45 too! Work is a good distraction but they don't take kindly to mental frailties! Honestly, I'll be fine! Just venting!"

*          *          *          *          *

The 'patient' was me. The 'guy' was patient from '3am' (read). Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is very very real. It's often associated with the military due to the sights they see and the environment they are in. However, it is becoming more and more common, or more and more freely admitted in the Police and the Ambulance services. I have it, or had it, I'm not really sure. I'm also not really sure if it is ever something that goes. Maybe it is and it just hasn't gone yet. Maybe it is gone and what is left will stay. I don't really know. I wrote this post because of one I read on the One Police UK Facebook Page. It really hits hope what PTSD is all about. 

Despite what the PR department will say, there really is no provision within the emergency services for dealing with it. I tried accessing the 'free counselling' service that is offered and if anything just trying to make an appointment made me worse. Actually saying  'I have PTSD' was of huge importance, as cliche as it is. Not in the sense of standing in a circle and saying 'My name is....... and I have.....' but to admit that your mental health is affected is quite a big thing. Especially when until that point, you only ever had to deal with other people's mental health. In the ambulance service, the closest you come to your employers knowing something is wrong is going off sick with stress. And lets be honest, that only stands to give you a reputation for 'someone who goes off sick with stress'. i.e. chancer, faker, pulling a fast one, playing the game, abusing the system. It's true. That is how you will viewed by management. 

Admitting weaknesses isn't something that is done much in an environment full of black humour and bravado. Mess room banter probably wouldn't cope with someone saying 'actually no, I see his face in my sleep every night'. You just play the game. Put on the brave face and only confide in the ones you think won't judge your weakness. Let's be honest, it doesn't give much confidence in a new crew mate when a simple head injury causes you a panic attack. There a triggers everywhere, it's about learning to spot them and avoid them. Sadly, this job doesn't let you avoid seeing words like 'fall from height'. These are the invisible wounds that PTSD leaves behind.

The problem we and police have is it doesn't stop. There is always a new memory around the corner. '3am' has effected me. It was the last job of the shift, the last shift in a run and I had seven days off to dwell on it. Maybe PTSD in the emergency services is more about timing rather that the event. I have seen things that a more tragic and more disturbing since but they don't effect me. Part of me wishes that they did. 

Another traumatic death or a dead child. Maybe the one memory that stays is protecting us. If every traumatic sight we saw effected us in the same way we simply wouldn't function. There is very little time to process information. Very often I have written about seeing something which most people would see as probably the most traumatic event in their lifetime, only to go to another call five minutes later. Maybe this is why

PTSD isn't going away, it is a fact of life and although some efforts are being made to treat it and make it more accepted, until it is fully embraced and tolerated by employers little will change. Let's be honest though, the reason why it isn't widely tolerated as a genuine reason for sickness is money. We can't have our police officers and ambulance staff on long term sick can we! There are targets to be met.....

Don't forget to vote in the MAD Blog Awards 2013. I'm a finalist in the Best Writer category and all votes will be appreciated! VOTE NOW! Voting closes midnight tonight!

Please Sir, can I have some more?

Dear David

I'd like to start by wishing you and your family well in these tough economic times. You and Samantha's combined salaries of £400,000 plus shares and bonuses must be really getting spread thin. I empathise, I really do. Like you, I seem to work all the hours god sends yet that £25,000 seems to just disappears! Still waiting for my mileage expenses to come through though, so that will be an extra £42 in the piggy bank! I love expenses! Anyway, the point of this letter is one of a more serious nature. 

I have waited a long time to write this too you. Let me draw your mind back to your first assault on the Police service. In case you'd forgotten you cut 16,000 officers. Less is more! Quality over quantity! Needs must! Look at the bigger picture! We will all feel the pinch! No one is immune from cuts! All very very true. We must indeed all pay the price for the bankers and politicians sticking our country in the economical dark ages. But, there are consequences to your ill advised cuts. Let me share a story. A story that brings back painful memories. A story that still bears real scars. 

As a paramedic, one who has been through years of training and sacrificed friends and family for such a fulfilling salary, I understand that part of my job, in fact, part of my salary is danger money. Well, not officially, but being abused is part of the job, right? As the Right Honourable Ann Widecombe, recently said, "Public servants worry more about their own safety than that of the public, Britain has sunk to a new low". I'm guessing by your lack of condemnation of these comments you must agree wholeheartedly. So, as an 'ambulance driver' (yes, we are that low in the food chain), a bit of danger comes with the territory. One afternoon, I was called to a residential address to a man who had 'passed out'. 

When I arrived that man was lying on the grass. I approached him, on my own, and he appeared drunk. I went about my business, checking him over, when the ambulance crew arrived. We began to get the bed off the ambulance all the while making sure the member of the public was OK. We are public servants after all and serve we shall. Without warning the patient stood up and swayed a little, then staggered into a fence. Poor guy eh?!

He then beat me with a fence post. He also beat the other members of the ambulance service. Three of us in all. Do you know what it feels like to be helpless against a man beating you with a lump of wood? Despite all of our broken bones we managed to press our emergency button. Let me share a conversation with you.

Me: "Red base red base, urgent police, we are being attac......." I stop because the lump of wood has been broken over the back of my head and then broke my hand.

Crew 1: "Red base, my crew mate has been hit over the head, urgent police" he says with 3 broken ribs.

Red Base: "Getting the police for you now, are you all OK, can you get to safety."

Crew 2: "I'm now locked in the car, I think my wrist is broken, he's still attacking us."

Crew 1: "We are away from him but he's coming after us. Are the police on way?"

Red Base: "The police have no units to send, try and maintain a safe distance."

Crew 2: "He's trying to get in the car, he's hitting it with the wood"

Crew 1: "I think he's stopped, he's lying in the road but we can't drive off."

Crazy stuff isn't Dave! No units to send?! But aren't the police supposed to be there to protect us? Surely in a real emergency they have someone to send. Surely you didn't cut too many? It's OK, 9 minutes later two undercover officers arrived. Part of their job is getting abused too. I should probably mention now that in their efforts to protect us from the patient they too both got broken bones. They were struggling to restrain him on their own so much, that we all helped. We all restrained him for 10 more minutes until more help arrived. Guess what we did then Dave? We all took the patient to hospital for treatment. With our broken bones and bleeding wounds, we checked his blood pressure, he even got to travel on the bed. He is of course a member of the public and we are all their servants.

Now, do you still think less police is the right answer? What if you or your beloved family were trapped somewhere in real fear for your life? What if you called for help? What thoughts would go through your mind when you heard those terrifying words "No units to send." The officer who came to my aid told me that it used to be a team of 25 to police the borough on this shift. Today it was a team of 7. No doubt they got complaints from the public for not coming to their aid quick enough whilst 2 of the 7 were sat in A & E with me and my colleagues. Tut tut. We really must all work harder.

The good news from all of this, was our patient was treated professionally by us and the hospital. He was arrested and charged. He was sent to prison. However, because of your cuts to the prison service he has already been released and I could bump into him anytime of any day.  Oh wait....in fact, only last week, I was sent on a job to his house. Can you imagine the fear Dave, can you? Luckily he wasn't there. 

I am proud to say that in this country we have by far the best police service in the world. The things they do and the dangers they face without a gun on their belt. The professionalism they show at all times is nothing short of amazing. That is in the face of your assault on their salary, their pensions and their working conditions. Now you are making a career in the police as unappealing as possible by slashing the starting salary and rushing through the 'Eton Old Boys' to top ranking jobs without ever having to be spat at, kicked, punched, stabbed, shot, sworn at, had missiles through at them and put their lives on the line. It is plain and simple Dave. There are not enough of them any more. Not enough by a long shot. So, in the words of Oliver Twist, 'Please Sir, can I have some more?'

Just a thought, you know that publicly owned bank, RBS? You know, the one we all bailed out with our taxes. Well they are paying their staff £950,000,000 in bonuses this year. As they are PUBLICLY owned, why not use the money to fund the salaries for 38,000 new police officers on £25,000 a year. I think my maths is right. There are other banks to you know. Other ones we all helped fix. How about they now help fix us? I know, I know, I'm probably not looking at the bigger picture, but in that big picture I just see the words 'No Units To Send'. Silly me.

By the way Dave, this wasn't a work of fiction for effect. This actually happened. To me. Have a read. http://www.barnettoday.co.uk/news.cfmid=3449&headline=Man%20in%20court%20for%20paramedic%20assault

Good luck with the economy Dave, there are tough times ahead.

Your Sincerely

Ella Shaw (Public Servant)

Blue Light Taxonomy

Following on from my last blog '21 Miles' I thought it would be appropriate to share this is a fabulous post by Bobby McPeel, a Police Office and blogger who I have recently discovered! I go on and on about peoples bad driving and bizarre actions when confronted with a big yellow ambulance, flashing blue lights and sirens. Bobby McPeel sums up what they do perfectly. It may be police cars but peoples reactions are the same. Please just thing back to your highway code or 'Drivers: Take Note'! No where does it say slam on your breaks in the middle of a duel carriageway! Anyway I hope you enjoy this post as much as I did!

*          *          *          *          *

Blue Light Taxonomy

Blue flashing lights and sirens on an emergency vehicles often cause other drivers to do strange and crazy things. Over the years I have developed my own classification system for different drivers.

THE KERB CRUNCHER

Upon seeing blue lights in their rear view mirror, this driver mounts the kerb or verge, regardless of the capability of their vehicle for off-road pursuits, and often to the horror of a passing pedestrian.

THE TWITCHER

This driver pootles along without a care in the world until a big noisy police car appears from behind them. This will result in a ‘twitch of recognition’ which essentially is a reflex action involving a sharp turn of the steering wheel to the left, combined with the application of the brakes, causing the car to come to an abrupt halt. Often accompanied with a look of panic or shock.

THE DRIFTER

A motorist who neither stops to pull over, nor maintains a reasonable speed. These are the most awkward and infuriating to pass because they gradually slow down, or ease off the gas a little and drift into a crawl, usually on a left hand bend or the brow of a hill, or directly opposite a vehicle coming the other way

THE STAMPER

Similar to the Twitcher but without the steering element. When glancing in their rear view mirror the driver will ”stamp” on the brake pedal, bringing the car to an immediate halt, usually in the middle of the road. Keeps the police driver on their toes and tests their reflexes to the limit.

THE DAYDREAMER

No amount of blue strobe lights, siren changes, headlight flashing or gesticulating will wake this driver from their road slumber, nor deter them from their chosen course. Mirrors come as optional extras on their vehicles and many drive white vans.

THE LEAPFROGGER

A very distinctive driver who will see a car in front pull to the side of the road, not think to check behind, and overtake the car that has stopped, right into the path of the approaching police vehicle that will take evasive action. On occasion two of this species will meet at the same point, resulting multiple leapfrogging.

THE WEAVER

An indecisive and unpredictable motorist who can’t decide which way to go at the sight of a police car to the rear. A bit like a confused rabbit, darting left and right in a state of panic.

THE CHANCER

This particular driver exhibits a variety of different behaviours. Some will take the opportunity of a police vehicle passing by and use the gaps in the gaps created in the traffic for their own gain. Others will commit a wide range of traffic offences right under the nose of the passing police officers, in the knowledge that they probably won’t be stopped – although sometimes the police have the last laugh and will come knocking later on!

There is a serious point to this article. Drivers should be aware of their surroundings whilst on the road and be ready to react safely and sensibly when an emergency vehicle is approaching. There is an excellent video that gives guidance on how to react to emergency vehicles:

You can follow Bobby McPeel on Twitter or go and check out his great blog!