‘Continuous Fitting’ This type of call always comes up as a high priority, and a paramedic will always be sent in case the patient needs a medication called Diazepam to help stop the fits. But things aren’t always what they seem at first glance… I arrived ahead of the ambulance and found a young lady…
Tag Archive: wider NHS
Waiting Times
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…
Mum’s The Word
We’ve had some gorgeous spring weather lately and one particularly sunny late afternoon I was called to someone reported as being ‘unconscious’ by passers-by. When I arrived there was a small crowd gathered around a man who was lying flat out on the pavement of a very busy road. Well as you know I’m not…
Achilles Heel
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’…
Interview in Ambulance Today
I was recently interviewed for Ambulance Today magazine – here is a direct link to the online PDF version of the magazine. I was interviewed by the editor, Declan Heneghan, about my career – starting from my job in the circus, which regular readers of this website will know all about! For those of you…
Educazione Stradale
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…
A day in the life
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…
Young people with mental health problems
Early help ‘key to tackling mental health problems’ Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-12338540 Reading this article reminded me of a young man I saw recently. Both his parents had died: his father a few months ago and his mother, tragically, on Christmas Day. In the eyes of the world, Charlie was an adult aged 18 years old, but…
Christmas and New Year 2010
I worked all over Christmas and New Year and it has been extremely busy. I guess it’s the usual mixture of alcohol, seasonal flu, adverse weather conditions and the perceived unavailability of GP services during the holidays, all culminating in the previously unseen number of calls. Whichever of these it was, there has certainly been…
It’s Christmas!
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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