Unbelievable

[Devonisheaven]

The 999 responder, agreed to my giving 300 mg of Aspirin and getting her in a sitting position. This was told to myself on a company first aid course. And never contradicted over three incidences.

Edit I have just checked on NHS guide line, and Aspirin is NOT advised.
Thank you for correcting me. Seams like a lot of European health guide lines have changed.
Thanks Devonisheavon.

Always a pleasure Hutch.

Apart from my career of 34 years in Fisheries, I had a business teaching First Aid for 20 years until I fully retired last year.

The 300mg of Asprin and the sitting position is the First Aid treatment for suspected Heart Attack, the symptoms and signs for a Stroke are very different. 👍

 

[Devonisheaven]

999 responders sometimes give advice which later proves to be diametrically wrong

I recently collapsed on a day out, my friends called 999 and were told categorically not to give me anything to eat or drink - on admission to hospital I was diagnosed as dehydrated and both doctors who checked me over agreed that advice shouldn't have been given -we'll never know but I suspect that if they'd been told to give me a drink that we could have avoided an ambulance call out and admission to A&E.

It is believed that around three quarters of the population are in a constant state of Dehydration, and please, sorry for being blunt, but that is totally avoidable.

As a male you should be drinking AT LEAST 3 litres of water a day, in hot weather get more in to you, say 5 litres. You will feel so much better………But pee like a racehorse!

I have a water bottle in my car and pick up truck, always topped up, and never hike without at least, 3lts of water and a water purifier.

Also be a pee checker! Yes, check the colour of your pee, it should be a light straw colour or even clear. If it is a darker colour, it is a good sign you are dehydrated.

Get that water into you! It’s so good for you………and your skin will thank you. 👍

EDIT: It is the final day of the Six Nations, it is ok to substitute water for Lager or Beer from 14:00hrs onward. 👍🍻🍻

 

[Devonisheaven]

Yet again, Never give water, due to internal ruptures. Is advised.

I think I will book myself into the St Johns accident course, I am obviously well out of date. .
Well out of date with my BSAC diving , rescue certificate.

Great idea to get some training Hutch, if you weren’t so far away we could meet up for a catch up!

But seriously, everyone should ask themselves, would you know what to do, do you know how to do CPR and use a De Fib, properly recognise and treat a burn. Recognise a Stroke or Heart Attack, and know what to do. Deal with someone who is choking! How to deal with a broken bone.

Concussion, heat exhaustion, heat stroke, hypothermia, asthma, anaphylaxis, hypoglycaemia……..etc, etc.

Would you know how to administer a Tourniquet in the event of a catastrophic bleed, or even recognise a cat bleed.

If you do get some training, make sure your provider teaches Catastrophic Bleeding as part of the training, and that they are a regulated training provider.

 

[Jcloughie]

In reality Doctors in the UK also have to be able to demonstrate they partake and learn from Continuing Professional Development (CPD) failure to do so will bring them up in front of the General Medical Council

CPD is a very sensible method. My contract was altered to include it around 2007. We were all trained up on how to comply. There was lots of concern as to how this was going to be verified. Turned out, that all that was just needed to keep a log of what we did,

eg, read an article on ****** 1 hour. Etc.

After about 1 year we all realised that there was zero verification happening. The whole thing died a death.

I really hope that doctors CPD is better enforced.

John

 

[Sam Vimes]

Great idea to get some training Hutch, if you weren’t so far away we could meet up for a catch up!

But seriously, everyone should ask themselves, would you know what to do, do you know how to do CPR and use a De Fib, properly recognise and treat a burn. Recognise a Stroke or Heart Attack, and know what to do. Deal with someone who is choking! How to deal with a broken bone.

Concussion, heat exhaustion, heat stroke, hypothermia, asthma, anaphylaxis, hypoglycaemia……..etc, etc.

Would you know how to administer a Tourniquet in the event of a catastrophic bleed, or even recognise a cat bleed.

If you do get some training, make sure your provider teaches Catastrophic Bleeding as part of the training, and that they are a regulated training provider.

Yes to most of the above. For a number of years I was a Community First Responder until the Scottish Ambulance Service stopped supporting us.

We had regular training and I can still remember most of the basics and would still step forward if needed.

Problem these days is one of liability.. While registered with the SAS, we were covered. Now it would be at our own risk...something to think about in these days of ambulance chasing lawyers.

You may have heard of them.....Rob and Sue Anybody

 

[GaryB]

Just to add to this older thread with a tale of despair. Our surgery is now on web-based appointment booking only (as of last month), the reception staff quite bluntly tell anyone who struggles with technology to get a friend or relative to help them, they will not accept ANY appointment requests over the phone. I could do with seeing a doctor (nothing urgent) and have been trying to book an appointment for the last 4 weeks, each day there is NOTHING available for the coming month! According to the area FB groups the surrounding towns are facing the same problem.

I have no answers but it makes a mockery of the TV adverts telling you to talk to your GP if you think something's wrong etc.

 

[Jcloughie]

Our surgery will allow, and even help people to get an appointment with the reception or by phone. But continually push for online requests. The online system they had was worse than usless. After many complaints, (including me). We now have a new simpler system that is not to bad to use.

It would be nice to have some national agreement on this.

John

 

[otherclive]

I’m very grateful that our surgery provides online triage from 0730, and phone or in person appointments from 0800 with a quota retained for the latter two categories. The last two times I have used the online triage I’ve had a response by mid morning. One was a doctor ringing me and sorting out an approach with a prescription issued. The second time was a link to book a blood test.
An excellent surgery by any standards