570 miles with no food or water

There are reports tonight that a stroke victim endured a 570-mile journey, from south London to Inverness (the last major city before the north coast of Scotland), without any food or water – while the ambulance staff themselves stopped for food! While I understand that it’s not always appropriate to feed a patient, in this case it is reported that the patient was in a terrible state on arrival in Inverness.

I was shocked by this but not surprised, because sub-contracting of transit ambulance services (not emergency “blue light” ambulances) is common. I’ve been an agency driver since 2000 and in late 2001 worked for one of these companies, driving such ambulances out of a well-known teaching hospital in south London.

People who drive these vehicles are trained in such skills as lifting patients. My training is only in driving, yet when I got to a lady’s first-floor flat when she needed to get to hospital. I refused, since the lady was clearly heavy and I didn’t believe I’d be able to get her down the stairs safely. I called the hospital and told them this, and her appointment was cancelled.

I then called my agency, and asked them to fix more work for me as I expected that this would be the end of my placement – and indeed it was.