I’d put my name down to work at the Notting Hill Carnival a few weeks ago, well before the London riots hit the news. I usually enjoy working at these big events (you may know that I have also worked at the London Triathlon, the London Marathon and in the centre of town on New…
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I had to feel sorry for one of my patients last week. She’d been sent in to the Urgent Care Centre (UCC) for an x-ray to her right leg by her GP. Sadly at the beginning of the year, she had lost a close relative under tragic circumstances and was still feeling very low in…
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I was working in a very busy Urgent Care Centre in the ‘triage’ room. I’d been there for four hours and the flow of patients never stopped. One chap with not much more wrong with him than a dose of ‘man flu’ left the room to sit and wait to see the doctor and asked…
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Tags: animal bites, common sense, funny, injury, lucky escapes, squirrel, triage, urgent care centre, waiting room, weird things patients say, wider NHS -
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A word of warning to those of us of a certain age who are considering a return to sporting activities after a few years break. You may still believe that you are able to run around the squash court or football pitch with the vigour of a teenager but you may have an ‘Achilles heel’…
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Tags: 999, Achilles, Ambulance, common sense, injury, Paramedic, plaster cast, public education, sport, Squash, Trends, wider NHS -
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On a stunning early spring day recently, I was called by the police to a quiet street where a young man had been injured. The details were given as ’19 year old male, hurt himself on a fence.’ I was only a couple of minutes away in my car so I got there quickly and…
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Deciding to challenge my Italian language skills beyond their limits and seeing the opportunity for a little jaunt to my favourite country in with the deal, I signed up to attend a presentation on safety on the road in Italy. Those who have passed a holiday in a city in Italy will recall the chaos of…
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Tags: 999, Ambulance, fatal crash, Fire Brigade, injury, Italy, Paramedic, Police, public education, road deaths, RTC, Safe Drive Stay Alive, texting while driving, Trauma, Trends, wider NHS, Young people -
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I thought I would give you a brief summary of some of the patients that we saw today at the hospital. The man who had had a lump on his arm for 3 years and then came in by ambulance (yes folks you did read that correctly – by ambulance!). He made us giggle as…
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I had a young student paramedic out observing with me this week. With her ‘gateway’ exam coming up soon Jane wanted to spend the day with an ECP to observe physical assessment techniques. Our first patient was a young man who had fallen almost 3 metres while working on a construction site. It was raining…
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Tags: Ambulance, cannulation, collapse, construction site, Elderly, funny, Gateway assessment, illness, injury, Paramedic, Physical Assessment, Police, pressure sores, Trauma -
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Well is it just me or did that seem to have come around very quickly? It’s Christmas time again already. Like many of my colleagues, I have pulled the short straw and will be working during the festivities. It will probably be extremely busy too if the last few weeks are anything to go by….
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Tags: Abdo (Abdominal) Pain, Ambulance, Christmas, common sense, heart attack / Myocardial Infarction / MI, illness, injury, minor illness, Out of Hours provision, Paramedic, signposting, simple advice, Trends, wider NHS -
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Like many of my colleagues this week I had to forsake the car and walk in to work. Having finally made it in I was crewed up on an ambulance with a guy who had also tackled the journey on foot. Our first patient was a ninety year old female with a head injury. We…
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