I did an observer shift in Control a while back. I wanted to watch and listen to how calls come in, got triaged, allocated and then managed.
So, sitting with Laffieres*, a Clinical Team Leader, I was able to listen in to a patient call back. They had rung 999 feeling faint and had won themself an Amber response that could see her waiting a long while for an ambulance. London were holding a ridiculous amount of calls and, as usual, only had a finite amount of ambulances to send. So, it was Laffieres’ job to ring the patient back and re-check their clinical status to see if anything had changed and to see if there were any ‘alternatives’ that could be used to help the patient. This was all done using the Manchester Triage System, a quick, more concise generalised system to help clinicians triage a patient’s needs over the phone.
After a short conversation Laffieres concluded the patient did not need an ambulance at all. And, upon receiving the news that they were no longer going to be getting one, the patient’s demeanour changed. One second their voice had been woeful and demure, the next it was harsh, cruel and direct.
“If you don’t send me an ambulance I’ll ring 999 again! And I’ll keep ringing, over and over!”
My jaw had genuinely dropped. I could not believe what I’d just heard. Laffieres laughed.
“We get it all the time mate. Every day, over and over. She’ll call back in a minute, I guarantee”
And she did . . .