The Nation's Health

Relatives: Take note

"Relatives of various ages acting like muppets"

Following my post entitled 'Drivers: Take Note' I've decided to follow the 'Take note' series and cast the magnifying glass over Relatives! Relatives can make the simplest of jobs a complete nightmare. Medically trained relatives make us nervous and rude relatives make us angry. I empathise! I really do. It's horrible to watch your loved ones suffer, horrible to see someone in pain and you just want to help but lets remember one thing. YOU CALLED US! If you do call us, let us do our job. Show us some respect and leave us be. We are there to help your loved one and are trained to do so! Some communities are more family orientated than others. This has its perks and its downsides. On one hand it's refreshing to see close knit family groups care for each other. A lot of family and community spirit has been lost in our society in recent decades but for us, having ten relatives in the room is ten opinions on what is best for their loved ones and it is highly likely at least one will disagree with us. So, please read, please take note and try to abide. If you do, everyones a winner!

  • Don't block the entrance to the house with your car.
  • Don't continually wave as we approach. We have eyes. We used them.
  • Don't have a house with no visible door number. The Daily Mail will blame us.
  • Don't mop your relatives brow while we are talking to them.
  • Don't answer the questions we ask OUR patient.
  • Don't leave your 4 cars on the drive way. Hide them. It upsets us.
  • Don't allow the ambulance crew to relative ratio to favor the relative.
  • Don't request a distant hospital because it is nearer where you live.
  • Don't argue.
  • Don't request a distant hospital because you think it has better doctors.
  • Don't ask us if they will get seen quickly because they came by ambulance.
  • Don't leave your 4 cars on the drive way. Hide them. It upsets us.
  • Don't start a sentence with 'I was going to drive them but......'
  • Don't answer the questions we ask OUR patient.
  • Don't tell us or ask us about your ailments. We aren't here for you.
  • Don't tell us your relative cannot walk. We'll decide.
  • Don't ask 'who is it?' at the intercom. You called 999 less than 8 minutes ago.
  • Don't leave your 4 cars on the drive way. Hide them. It upsets us.
  • Don't call us because you have run out of Calpol.
  • Don't start a sentence with 'Shouldn't you.....' NO!
  • Don't answer the questions we ask OUR patient.
  • Don't call us because you don't have a car or money for a cab. Not our problem.
  • Don't call us if your GP told YOU to go to A & E.
  • Don't leave your 4 cars on the drive way. Hide them. It upsets us.
  • Don't give us orders over the phone.
  • Don't request a second opinion when I say they don't need to go to hospital.
  • Don't start a sentence with 'But the last ambulance.......' We aren't them.
  • Don't answer the questions we ask OUR patient.
  • Don't be rude to us. It won't be tolerated.
  • Don't leave your 4 cars on the drive way. Hide them. It upsets us.
  • Don't tell us they have a fever when you haven't taken their temperature.
  • Don't lie.
  • Don't answer your phone whilst we are talking to you. It is rude.
  • Don't stand up in an ambulance when we have told you to sit down.
  • Don't answer the questions we ask OUR patient.
  • Don't leave your 4 cars on the drive way. Hide them. It upsets us.
  • Don't swear at us. We WILL leave.
  • Don't swear at us in a foreign language. We WILL leave.
  • Don't be violent towards us. You WILL be arrested.
  • Don't start a sentence with 'Can we follow in the car....'
  • Don't call us for your elderly relative in the hope they'll be admitted for Christmas.
  • Don't leave your 4 cars on the drive way. Hide them. It upsets us.
  • Don't answer the questions we ask OUR patient.
  • Don't say 'Is it OK?' after every single check we do. A tad annoying.
  • Don't tell us the waiting time to hand over is ridiculous. We know!
  • Don't hover during our hospital handover.
  • Don't interrupt during our hospital handover.
  • Don't leave your 4 cars on the drive way. Hide them. It upsets us.
  • Erm....Don't interrupt during our hospital handover.
  • Don't answer the questions we ask OUR patient.
  • You know what......just don't! Sshh!

We are all nice people, all we ask is that you let us do our job. We don't need you to sit their in silence but don't interrupt us. Treat us as you'd expect us to treat you and most importantly, DON'T ANSWER THE QUESTIONS WE ASK OUR PATIENT. Do all the above and we are going to get along just great!

Click the Take Note photo at the top to see the other posts in the series!