Frustrated Paramedic
Discussion
covboy said:
johnnywb said:
What is the difference between the blue and green lights? I've always wondered why the HEMS car carries both? I presume they give different dispensations?
Greens give no dispensation at all I thinkI'm going back a bit but he wasn't supposed to do anything that would be illegal for any road user, although of course he did. Even in normal driving he always drove like he was on the way to a job!
There is a fire investigator who is a fireman in Edinburgh who drives a blue Passat estate with hidden lights and he loves to play bib, He has been told to gtf loads of times, my friend is a fireman Edinburgh and he says the guy is a total joke in the fire sevice, total want to be bib !!
matchmaker said:
Where does that place non-NHS ambulances?
the law as it relates to both claiming exemptions and to the fitting of Warning devices talks in terms of both 'ambulance purposes' and seperately of ambulances as a type of vehicle for many years( with the exception of a few sad muppets in Unison who were so clinically insecure they are afraid to work without a someone to cross check their every move ) it was widely accepted that ambulance purposes covered RRVs, officers cars, equipment tenders, major incident vehicles, command vehicles etc etc etc as long as they were being used for a reasonable ambulance purposes.
ambulances are defined in at least three or four places and each slightly differently for the road traffic act, the road vehicle lightsing regs, the Vehicle excise duty regs and the VAT regulations - key factors are Use and or specific features of the vehicles
-Use wise it's that an Ambulance is used solely fo rthe purposes of transporting the sick and injured and the only exceptions to this are things like positioning moves, going to training and servicing and repair of the vehicle
- specific features wise it's a requirement to be able to carry patients or carry a stretcher.
nothing in any of the legisation says anything about Ownership / operator
all this legislation pre-dates the formation of the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and the extension of the CQC remit to include ambulance operations.
as it currently stands with the possible exception of the military every ambulance operator in England is required to be registered with the CQC and cannot legally ltrade as an ambulance service without such registration.
the Hatzola case is interestign as until very recently None of the Hatzola schemes i nthe UK were CQC registered , London Hatzola had even gone as far as purchasing an ambulance before they got pushed into registering .
Hatzola in the Uk work outside the Statutroy Ambulance provision in that they aree cnot dispatched or coordinated by the NHS control rooms - they have their own activation processes and contact systems
This is unlike the vast majority of Emergency medicAl provision in the UK which is managed via the NHS ambulance control rooms and accessed via 999/ 112 emergency numbers or the 111 service, whether the actual resources sent are NHS, Private, St John or Red Cross emergency ambulances or RRVs , Community responders , military or fire service 'co-responders' , Air Ambulance or BASICS and other immediate care schemes ( with indivial or teams of health Professionals including Doctors, Nurses ODPs and Paramedics )
Edited by mph1977 on Thursday 4th September 01:54
mel said:
<snip>
So St John Ambulance can still have RRV's & Bikes (I heard the other week they'd taken their bikes off the road but this is unconfirmed and rumour) as can all the rest of the CQC registered private contractors, and Charities that support the NHS but their despatch must be as described for them to fit the definition. Hatzola were/are a religious closed community response group that were in no way under the control of the NHS, it all sounded very fishy.
I've checked with three regions SJA wise and none of them have heard anything about a ban of the bikes or RRVs for SJA - and the july 2014 version of the fleet policy includes response capable vehicles other than Ambulances. the bikes stuff may also be jealousy or and extrapolation of the removal of some 'none standard' and 'none core' activities in other areas post 2012 reorganisation So St John Ambulance can still have RRV's & Bikes (I heard the other week they'd taken their bikes off the road but this is unconfirmed and rumour) as can all the rest of the CQC registered private contractors, and Charities that support the NHS but their despatch must be as described for them to fit the definition. Hatzola were/are a religious closed community response group that were in no way under the control of the NHS, it all sounded very fishy.
My thoughts are areone or more of the follwing has happened with that leittle rumour
1a. Private ambulance s
t stirring - as there are plenty of st stirrers in that business .1b. the 'big what taxi service' faction in the NHS service s
t stirring / indulging in 'excessive banter' . 2. dissident ex-johnners Stirring ( there are quite a few who have flounced out since 2012 as SJA across England and the Islands and Priory for Wales is now about delivering the services needed by the community not the wants of members ). There are various dissident groups of flopuncers set up around the place - most of the past flounces from SJA or BRC haven;t lasted long or after a big bang initial presence have lost mometum and work they took off SJA /BRC has gone back ( Hop Farm, Manchester Pride, Various events in S yorks and W Yorks )
3. someone some where in SJA has had their Response Driver grading for cars removed and is covering up the fact they have lost this 'magical special status' with a tale that it's been banned across the whole organisation.
4. one district or region has removed blues from a car or 4*4 that was never used for response and solely used to move kit and people, and someone has decided this means it;s been banned across the organisation
covboy said:
johnnywb said:
What is the difference between the blue and green lights? I've always wondered why the HEMS car carries both? I presume they give different dispensations?
Greens give no dispensation at all I thinkblue flashing light mneans " I am an emergency vehicle please let me through "
for most , though not all Blue light users there is access to the exemptions
as i said in my previous post regarding the use of greens on vehicles allowed to use blues it's a 'badge of office' thing for the Doctors...
Edited by mph1977 on Thursday 4th September 01:52
Osinjak said:
Really? Knowing you, you'd have one on your motor like a shot if you were a doctor. Thankfully, we know that'll never happen.
Nah, badge of honour for a doctor is a 911, Merc of the AMG variety, Audi with an RS badge or an M car.The doctor's car park at the local hospital here is like a German car show (although it might just be an orthopaedic consultant/ trauma surgeon thing) .
A green light would just be tacky.
Edited by Red 4 on Thursday 4th September 10:15
Osinjak said:
mph1977 said:
it's a 'badge of office' thing for the Doctors...
Really? Knowing you, you'd have one on your motor like a shot if you were a doctor. Thankfully, we know that'll never happen.Edited by mph1977 on Thursday 4th September 01:52
we know what will never happen ? Me responding to emergency calls at the direction of an NHS ambulance service ... oh dear that's happened before and will likely happen again ...
Where I'm currently living that could well be in my own car under blues unless i've grossly mis-read the materials produced by the local ( and professionally inclusive ) Immediate care scheme, perhaps as well as in marked vehicles as part of formal Ambulance Support / reserve working ...
Greens give no exemptions and serve little purpose other than scene protection if you are responding as part of 999 provision - they date from a past age - notable a lot of GP OOH services have now removed the fixed lights from their vehicles recognising that if a patient is truely ill it is more appropriate to send an Ambulance service resource and/or an Immediate Care practitioner rather than a random GP or GPreg
greens may be of use to Senior Doctors who don;t work in settings where resident on call is now the norm - but unlike say 10 years ago there will be far fewer A+E consultants and NCCG doctors in the smaller Emergency depts coming in for trauma calls , the trauma patints will be going to the MTC with it's resident seniors ...
as for the badge of office comment that's straight from the mouths of Medical colleagues who have far far more experience in emergency care ( and plenty of TV hours ) ...
Edited by mph1977 on Thursday 4th September 11:25
Just Google 'Shaun foster paramedic'
He was a colleague of ours and did a similar thing. He got away with it but it made him about as popular as a fart in a spacesuit with his workmates and nursing staff ( the nurse he stopped was a lovely girl who worked in his local a and e. )
Absolutely no need for it and I feel makes us normal staff look like nobs. If I was the op I'd report it.
He was a colleague of ours and did a similar thing. He got away with it but it made him about as popular as a fart in a spacesuit with his workmates and nursing staff ( the nurse he stopped was a lovely girl who worked in his local a and e. )
Absolutely no need for it and I feel makes us normal staff look like nobs. If I was the op I'd report it.
I do recall an incident years ago when on circuit on a roundabout a paramedic rrv approaching the roundabout at speed no equipment on. Seeing I was in circuit they lit the car up and i had to stop and let them on the roundabout. The car headed to my sisters nearby estate and out on interest I followed as the car enter the estate off comes the equipment goes off and they pulled onto a driveway and strolled into a house with no medical kit.
jbsportstech said:
I do recall an incident years ago when on circuit on a roundabout a paramedic rrv approaching the roundabout at speed no equipment on. Seeing I was in circuit they lit the car up and i had to stop and let them on the roundabout. The car headed to my sisters nearby estate and out on interest I followed as the car enter the estate off comes the equipment goes off and they pulled onto a driveway and strolled into a house with no medical kit.
Doesn't mean a lot.Paramedics tend not to run. They also attend emergency situations with a cool head and might look like the are returning library books, but they aren't, they are assessing the scene.
DoubleSix said:
jbsportstech said:
I do recall an incident years ago when on circuit on a roundabout a paramedic rrv approaching the roundabout at speed no equipment on. Seeing I was in circuit they lit the car up and i had to stop and let them on the roundabout. The car headed to my sisters nearby estate and out on interest I followed as the car enter the estate off comes the equipment goes off and they pulled onto a driveway and strolled into a house with no medical kit.
Doesn't mean a lot.Paramedics tend not to run. They also attend emergency situations with a cool head and might look like the are returning library books, but they aren't, they are assessing the scene.
That doesn't make any sense.Osinjak said:
DoubleSix said:
jbsportstech said:
I do recall an incident years ago when on circuit on a roundabout a paramedic rrv approaching the roundabout at speed no equipment on. Seeing I was in circuit they lit the car up and i had to stop and let them on the roundabout. The car headed to my sisters nearby estate and out on interest I followed as the car enter the estate off comes the equipment goes off and they pulled onto a driveway and strolled into a house with no medical kit.
Doesn't mean a lot.Paramedics tend not to run. They also attend emergency situations with a cool head and might look like the are returning library books, but they aren't, they are assessing the scene.
That doesn't make any sense.Osinjak said:
I think that site is out of date now. He's actually left our service but he's still working as a paramedic. And he did so for some time after the incident. I found the whole thing to be a tad embarrassing for all involved. Medic-one said:
Good example here, and this clown even had a marked up car...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeuJ_6skbF4
holy shttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KeuJ_6skbF4
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