"A very disappointing service"

Yesterday, I took unwell at work (a small community hospital) with what presented as cardiac related symptoms. Having had a significant cardiac event 14 years ago, neither I or my colleagues at work could risk taking any chances of not acting appropriately, in this case, a 999 ambulance.

While I was being expertly cared for by my medically trained colleagues, an ambulance was called. To my colleague's dismay, her call was put through to the call centre for the North East of England despite being 180 miles north of the border. And, despite my colleague (who has over 20 years nursing experience) giving all of my relevant clinical details, including medical history, medication, vital signs, analgesia etc. and that our small community hospital is not equipped to deal with a non-patient, clinical emergency, the call handler spent longer asking why someone who works in a hospital would need to go to another hospital. This, to me, shows the importance of timely and accurate communication between the caller and the call handler. And it also raises questions as to why the call was not taken in Scotland, where surely a better understanding of demographics would have been known?

Furthermore, the ambulance itself had still not arrived on site 2 hours after the first call had been made, including after a follow-up call. This led to my wife (who lives 45 minutes from my place of work) having to drive me to the correct hospital (after seeing a parked, empty ambulance in the local depot and passing two ambulances going in the opposite direction on the road). Thankfully, I received excellent care at the correct hospital and a series of results which meant I could go home.