shiels

Had to call an ambulance for a lady this evening who had fallen over at a bus stop, it was freezing cold and the lady was deaf but had obviously hurt her arm and back. The ambulance arrived 50 minutes later after a further two calls from me and another passer-by. The ambulance men didn't even acknowledge us.
This made me wonder what the emergency services were like in Australia??
Any experiences to be shared?? C x

YoSemite

the only ambo's I've met in Queensland had been at (motor)bike races where I've been working.

Can't say I've had them behave like this!!!! they've always been police and respectful to the patients. the ones I've met have always been quite cheery as well!!!!

Geordie George

It's amazing how much better the service gets when you have to pay for it.

CHnJ

Everyone pays for it as a small levy in the electricity bill. We've had nothing but praise for our local ambos. I dunno what it would be like in the city on a Saturday night though.

jon and alex

To be the devils advocate I'd point out that you dont know what else was going on at that time. Perhaps there was a person having a heart attack? The ambulances have to prioritise calls according to the perceived threat to life. An example of that is when I was at an incident where a cyclist had come off his bike and suffered a sus broken arm. An amubulance arrived but left without looking at the victim because they got a call to a cardiac arrest.
To be blunt, my bloke was in pain but wasn't gonna die so tough, he had to wait.
As for the crew being rude, well that's unfortunate but at the end of the day they are there to get a job done. In my experience ambulance crews are good people trying to do a very difficult job in difficult circumstances.

moneypenny20

Presumably old lady was not unconscious and therefore was able to discuss with the ambulance guys what had happened etc. They would have no need to talk to you. They don't really have time for niceties - just sort out the person as quick as possible.



As previous poster said, it might have been a busy period and if you explained that lady was conscious, she would be relatively low on the list of priorities.

Unfortunate for her but fact of life.

Only had need of the Police so far and they were prompt, polite, helpful - everything they could be.

Pollyana

The office I currently works in deals with the central admin for Queensland SES, and I deal with all the Director's correspondence. From the letters that come through its quite clear that we get many more compliments and thanks for the volunteers than we do complaints about them.Almost all the complaints are petty whinges from fellow volunteers - the praise is all from the public.

shiels

Hiya....the lady concerned was deaf thats why i was surprised that the ambulance crew did'nt talk to us. In hindsight i can understand that the ambulance service has to prioritise, but still think 50 mins is quite a long time to wait, i was still in 'mad mode' when i posted the thread!!!
Thanks for your replies...good to see not many BE have had to call on the Aussie emergency services!!! C x

Jaycee1

Hi C,
My brother is in Perth and had to pay $450 for the pleasure of a 10 minute ride when he came off his motorbike.... well Dad paid
Suppose it stops people ringing for minor incidents
J x