STUART GRAY is a heroic London Ambulance Service paramedic and this is a diary of just one year in his working life. It’s a moving, funny and absolutely gripping insight into the business of saving lives in the world’s most famous city. You will learn a hell of a lot!!
Extract:
HOAX CALLERS AND TIMEWASTERS
Regular callers are known as ‘frequent flyers’.
Don’t get me wrong, some people call us often because they
need us often - they have genuine problems. But a few are just
timewasters, draining the resources of the NHS by calling us
just because they can.
They are dangerous people who cost lives, and there’s not a
damn thing we can do about it.
One old guy on my patch - I’m talking a man in his early
60s, at an age where he really should know better - calls 999
almost every other day. He has it down to a fine art: he knows
when our shifts change and he times his call to coincide exactly
with crew turnarounds, ensuring a speedy response and a fresh
face or two. He rings for chest pain that he doesn’t really have,
abdominal problems that don’t exist and various other
complaints that he knows will guarantee him an emergency
response. Partly, he likes the attention, partly he just likes to
get a free ride down to the hospital where he’s guaranteed more
attention and a free lunch (or breakfast, or dinner). Some
weeks, he’ll have a car and an ambulance outside his home
every day; if he visits a friend or goes off on holiday with
family members, the calls stop - he never seems to get ill on
those days.
I’ve ‘treated’him many times, and on the last few occasions
I’ve lectured him at length about what he is doing. He abuses
his right to an ambulance over and over again, and yet nothing
is done about it.
Awhile ago, he called us and I was despatched with my
crewmate to his home. He was rude and arrogant, and he
insisted on being carried down the stairs (there are no lifts
where he lives, and he’s on the third floor). He has no.....
Want more: Read the book
