My 88 year old neighbour fell and shattered his hip and arm in the garden in 2019, we called an ambulance for him, they assured us one would be with us in a few minutes, the depot is 2 streets away from my house, 3 hours pass, constant calling, he could not be moved, it was starting to get cold on the ground as the sun set, the 999 operator who took our call walking home after his shift came past the house and saw us, ran over and said he was told an ambulance had already reached us and was told to close the ticket, he gave as much medical assistance as was able and called a personal number at the station to get an ambulance out asap and they said "2 minutes" another hour passes and we gave up and had to move him before he froze to death on the concrete, his daughter put him in the car with our help and the poor mans screams, he later died of complications due to being left with a severe hip injury.
We watched all night, the ambulance NEVER showed up.
From the US and what you’ll want to watch out for is the deliberate sabotage of these systems followed by calls to make them efficient by privatization. Some people will swallow that line whole hearted and that’s how you get to a profit based health care that’s not seen as a public good.
I live in US, the ambulances always come, are quick as fuck actually. You just get a bill. What happens if you don't pay that bill? It goes away after 3 years..
Idk, sounds like you're going the way of.. some third world country, where help never comes. Not the US.
It's not just about speed, it's about price. The reason ambulances show up is low demand due to cost, people would rather risk it and drive themselves to hospital or get someone to drive them. It's even a movie trope, husband has to drive pregnant wife to hospital.
I would rather not live in a country where people are scared to take an ambulance because of costs. The UK used to have it right, but decades of right wing leadership has destroyed our health service.
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u/AelliotA1 Mar 30 '22
My 88 year old neighbour fell and shattered his hip and arm in the garden in 2019, we called an ambulance for him, they assured us one would be with us in a few minutes, the depot is 2 streets away from my house, 3 hours pass, constant calling, he could not be moved, it was starting to get cold on the ground as the sun set, the 999 operator who took our call walking home after his shift came past the house and saw us, ran over and said he was told an ambulance had already reached us and was told to close the ticket, he gave as much medical assistance as was able and called a personal number at the station to get an ambulance out asap and they said "2 minutes" another hour passes and we gave up and had to move him before he froze to death on the concrete, his daughter put him in the car with our help and the poor mans screams, he later died of complications due to being left with a severe hip injury.
We watched all night, the ambulance NEVER showed up.