ukparamedic

Well you can forgive me coming from a country where 'EMS' is a national service fully tax funded and yet even for those who don't pay taxes or have just come to the country on holiday can call as many times as they like for no penalty. In the UK, people can and do call us up to 10 times a day, because it's free and because it's not a criminal offence to waste ambulance time. Only the police. Is it the same here? You may think everything I've said so far is very wrong but a majority of people in the UK all think the same, and I also got this impression by talking to someone while I was in the US who told me it costs like $500 for an ambulance ride if you call 911, and I figured she was correct since she lives here. What is the call rate like here in a big city? I work in London specifically, which is known to be the busiest free ambulance service in the world. We do not get meal breaks, and the idea of one would make any Paramedic laugh. We normally receive about 6000 calls a day, and considering the size of London it's complete insanity. This is mostly due to the triage system we have, AMPDS. The most awful, clinically inaccurate triage system anyone could have the misfortune of working under. It seems like everybody gets an emergency response for literally anything. I may have a tad of cynicism, but it is because I have been to the states a few times and often see ambulance crews driving around not doing much, 2 people in the cab, and I think why aren't they on a job? Is it really that quiet here? In London we go from job to job to job to job from the start of the shift to finish, and as a result are always late off of a 12 hour shift and still expected to come in the next day and do it all over again. Guess I'm just a bit jealous of Paramedics who can actually go to work and sit on station or drive around, or actually go out and get lunch.

Hey guys, I've often been under the impression that in America, calling 911 for an ambulance always cost you money, so people never called for any BS such as homeless drunks or cut fingers and stubbed toes and stuff like that. However I was browsing YouTube and I see a lot of LAFD Paramedic callouts to homeless drunks and people going crazy / being high. And I'm basically here to ask, what gives? I thought you could only call an ambulance if you had health insurance which I assume a majority of bums and wasters etc don't. Part of the reason I hate working in the UK as a Paramedic is that ALL healthcare in the UK is free, no insurance required. No nothing. So we get called to some absolute crap every day, like cut toes or homeless people being drunk etc. America sounded like some kind of paradise to me where people were scared to call 911 for an ambulance because they knew they'd be charged out of the ass end of their wallet for calling Paramedics. Am I wrong? I was basically only browsing YouTube to find a ride along with LAFD (and you know what I mean, a REAL ride along that shows the BS. Not a heavily edited "look at us man we save lives!!!" ride along), because I wanted to see what it's like for you guys and whether you get treated like crap the same way we do over here. Any responses from Paramedics working for a Fire Department would be greatly appreciated.