Christmas Day

.

Well the big day is here and I hope that you are all enjoying time with your family and friends. I like many others am working today, providing essential services to their communities. I would also like to mention and thank all those who give up their time voluntarily throughout the year to help and support the local communities.

These volunteers are often the unsung heroes who quietly go about their business in the background with little or no recognition. When you see a collecting tin please try to spare some change to support the important work these people do.

A public thank you to all those people who give up their time to help other people in a wide range of settings.

As I have said before in my ramblings please think about helping a charity by volunteering. You don't have to be at the sharp end, there are many backroom rolls which need to be carried out as well.

I hope you are all enjoying your day where ever you are and whatever you are doing.

Happy Christmas, stay safe.

Christmas is really coming

A few things have gone on  this week  a planning meeting for a table top exercise in the new year, collecting my daughter from uni for the Christmas break and some Christmas shopping. I have a few more days off before returning to work on Friday.
Like many others in the NHS, and other emergency services I will be working on Christmas day. When I joined the ambulance service almost twenty years ago Christmas day was dare I say it .... no just the Q word and there was very little else going on. Boxing day would have been busier but as the years have gone by Christmas day almost seems like any other day of the year, Boxing day even more so. Across the country more and more people are having to work over the festive period and I think this is a sign of our 24 hour culture.

With less than a week to go before  the big day  the festive shenanigans will be in full swing, please have a think about how prepared you are, no I don't mean have you got a big enough turkey or sprouts to feed a small army but more along the  lines of have you got sufficient stocks of prescribed medication if you need them? What about over the counter remedies?

Have you checked your car if you are off on a journey to visit relatives or friends? Have you filled up with fuel? What about the screen wash and the tyre tread and pressures?
Off to a party? How are you getting home? Have you a designated driver? What about booking your taxi?

So much to think about besides getting the reindeer carrots sorted and a mince pie for Santa. If you needed an ambulance at night could we find your address? Can we see your number from the road? Unlike Santa we do really on the mark one eyeball to find you, not a glowing nose!

       

Please stay safe and enjoy the festive period.

Help us to help you

I've had a few days off this week which was nice as it gave me a chance to catch up on a few jobs at home and I also had a nice meal out with friends.

The cold weather has continued and Emergency Departments continue to be busy. As regular readers will know part of my role is to manage ambulance  handover delays at the two local acute hospitals. This can be challenging at times, whether that is due to a lack of bed capacity in the hospital, high call volume to the ambulance service, delays in patients being seen and triaged in the Emergency Department or a combination of all three.

The trust I work for is committed to Right Care and the overarching aim of this programme is to ensure that patients receive the right care, at the right time and in the right place. This may not always be hospital and in fact locally  only around 38% of the patients our clinicians see are actually transported to hospital. Many of them are given advice or treated at home. They may be referred to their own GP or the Out Of Hours Service for follow up. Many callers to 999 may also be triaged  over the phone and advised to seek help from other NHS services. All of this work is in place to try to ensure that those people who really need and ambulance get one in a timely manner.

As we move nearer to Christmas there are a few things that you can do to help us to help you:

Also please:

Ensure you have a stock of everyday over the counter medicines.

Ensure that you have sufficient stocks of prescription medicines to see you through the holiday period

Seek advice for health problems now , don't put it off. Many everyday problems can be dealt with by your local pharmacist.

If you are having relatives to stay make sure they have their medications with them if needed. Do they have any specific needs? If so how will you cope with them?

Help us to help you , stay safe

Christmas is coming!

As I write this we are in December and another year is fast drawing to a close. Where has the year gone? What have I achieved? What did I miss out on doing?

This year seems to have flown by with lots going on throughout the year with Exercise Velocity a highlight for me. Day to day duties proved challenging in the early part of the year with hospital handover delays, demand carries on increasing and we have had the introduction of the electronic patient records system along with Mobimed monitoring, alongside a new response bag system. All of these have been on top of the everyday issues. Staff have dealt with this admirably.

We have recently had the coldest weather of the year so far and this will increase demand on all services, I wonder if this is a sign to of things to come? Looking forward this month will see party season moving in to full swing in the run up to Christmas. Please consider how your going to get home and as throughout the rest of the year don't drink and drive. As an aside to this road side detection of drug driving is also on the increase with many more roadside tests being carried out.

Just a thought about cold weather , please make sure you check your car before setting off and ensure that your windscreen and lights are clear. Please also adjust your driving to suit the conditions and drive to arrive.

I have only just seen this on the TV and thought I would share it with you

straight talking and to the point!!

As always stay safe