The Nation's Health

It's all about the money

"82 year old male, Cardiac arrest"

I can feel my heartbeat almost double in speed when I accept the job. There is always a different attitude in the cab, a sense of urgency, an appreciation of the gravity of the situation and an understanding and acceptance of what was about to happen. For someone not in the know, a resus is not a pleasant affair. For starters, lying between whatever ambulance crews are there is a dead body. During attempts to get the heart started again there will be the cracking of ribs, the jolts of electricity, incontinence, vomit in the airway, gargling and a cocktail of smells. It is what it is. If you were to believe what Ann Widdecombe in my recent post then you will be off the opinion that "the service exists for the benefit of those who staff it rather than those who need it". Well, there is a man lying on floor who needs us now and she would have you think that we are in it for the money. Are we?!

15:52 Dispatched - £0 earned

15:55 Arrived on scene - £0.51 earned

15:56 Start CPR - £0.68 earned

From what we could gather he had woken in the morning and had felt fine. He had been sitting in his arm chair reading the paper when he suddenly felt hot. He then fell to the floor and we were called. Unfortunately, there was only the two of us. We were told that there were no other resources available and I can all but guarantee that none of the other crews were on a rest break at the time! There are simply not enough ambulance for the number of calls and even if there were, there is not enough staff to man them.

15:59 1st shock given - £1.19 earned

Between the two of us we went through the resus protocol. We put in an airway and ventilated the patient, we gained IV access to give drugs and fluids, all the while doing CPR. A lot to do with just 4 hands! We were giving adrenaline every 5 minutes and shocking every 2 minutes

16:14 8th Shock given - £3.74 earned

His heart started beating, albeit slowly. His blood pressure was low so we raised his legs and started running more fluids in an attempt to raise it. While my crewmate monitored him and attached ECG leads while I went to get the scoop and the bed. Luckily the bed was able to be brought into the house. We packaged him up and got him onto the bed and on to the ambulance.

16:27 Start CPR - £5.95 earned

Unfortunately his heart stopped again so we were back to beating his heart and breathing for him. More drugs were given as were subsequent shocks. With only two of us we were in no position to drive to hospital, there was simply not enough hands to do CPR, ventilate, push through drugs and drive. We asked if there was any other vehicle on route. Any ambulance, an car, any manager, any community responder. Nothing available. There was a car on their way but they were 13 miles away.

16:33 11th Shock given - £6.97 earned

His heart started beating again, all the monitoring was still attached so we took our blood pressures etc and decided now was our chance to leave. The ECG showed he had suffered a heart attack so we put in a blue call to the heart attack centre where the blockage in his heart could be fixed within minutes of arrival.

16:36 Left scene for hospital - £7.48 earned

16:45 Arrived at hospital - £9.01 earned

16:48 Transferred patient to the surgical table - £9.52 earned

16:49 Gave full handover to cardiologist - £9.69 earned

16:51 Left the department to do the next job - £10.03 earned

The procedure was a success. The blockage in his heart was cleared and when he was taken up to ITU 40 minutes later his heart was beating well, he was breathing on his own and his outlook was much more positive. They are no guarantees, his brain my have suffered damage due to lack of oxygen before we arrived but he had been given the best chance possible.

I think you'll agree, we are all in it for the money. It's all we think about throughout the day. For every two minutes CPR I do, all I can do is think about how I will spent my 34p. It's all money money money with us. We don't deserve any more either. According to the Health Secretary with are just 'ambulance drivers'. It's not as if any of us have put in years and years of work to get Honours degrees, foundation degrees, BTEC qualification etc to qualify as a registered Paramedic. Oh no. We are just drivers and as such we should be paid as such. Besides, we think that the service exists for our own benefit don't we?! It's all about working out when can next eat isn't? We use the service to our benefit time and time again. We wangle it so we can work bank holidays, work on Christmas eve, Christmas day, boxing day, new years eve, new years day, our birthday & our children's birthday. And you know what?! We selfishly make sure we do most of them on a night shift too.......for our own benefit, obviously.

Just for the record, to Ms Ann Widdecombe, Mr Richard Madeley, Mr Jeremy Hunt, Mr Andrew Lansley and any other member of the government or press that actually believe what they preach.....this cardiac arrest I am talking about, where there were not enough ambulances to meet demand, was done on the back of another cardiac arrest. It was done having been at work for 10 hours, without a break. The shift itself was started only 8 hours after the previous 15 hour shift finished. It was done on a weekend. It was also done on a shift which was the 11th in 12 days. That's 12 days I have been unable to spent time with my child and I have another 3 to go before I can rest. But who cares, us 'ambulance drivers' are the ones who 'have sunk Britain to new depths' and are just in the job to line our greedy pockets. Right?!