Tag: #fatigued

Wind of Change

The terms “pandemic”, “Shielding”, “self-isolation”, “lock-down” and others that became common in conversations have become rare in discussions. Lock downs are barely mentioned now, only as bad time from that awful year that was 2020 and the conspiracy theorist nut nuts have mostly fallen silent. For two and a half years I managed to avoid the dreaded Covid-19. Finally it caught up with me, and it wasn’t pretty.

The current strain (Omicron BA. 4/5 at time of writing) seems to be rampaging it’s way through the UK with varying effects. Most victims suffer flu-like symptoms, My experience was that I thought I was going to die….for about 24 hours. My head felt like someone had been poking knitting needles in it, my body ached, breathing was painful. The next day I had the same symptoms as most other people – just like flu. I did however, on day four, lose my sense of taste and smell.

The dreaded second line in the LFT stick appeared, and showed on every test for 10 days before being strangely, but happily absent on day 11. Still I felt fluey though.

It struck me how complacent we have become. Did we end restrictions too early? Were the majority even following the rules properly? Should there still be some form of mandatory infection management – face coverings in built up public places and events etc?

I had a trip away and a concert booked for the day after the first positive test. I toyed with the idea of still going, but my conscience wouldn’t let me go, knowing I might be the cause of someone else suffering the same as I had….or worse! A former colleague put it well – “Us oldies have morals”. At the time, I wasn’t sure that was a good thing but now, having had time to reflect, I’d not have felt right had I travelled on a crowded train then sat at a crowded concert knowing I had Covid. Also, I’m not sure I’d have coped physically as I was still feeling quite ill. A week after testing negative I’m still feeling wheezy and I tire quickly, and coffee (and everything else) still tastes strange or of nothing.

Why am I typing this? My experience seems to be a common one at the moment. There were almost quarter of a million recorded cases in the last month, who knows how many unrecorded? Most were very mild cases, but some weren’t. We will definitely need to get used to living with this virus in time but, perhaps for now (at least until we have it as under control as possible) we need better forms of management. It hasn’t gone away, it has actually mutated again and will continue to do so. The sensible among us are vaccinated and that is clearly helping, but maybe, just maybe it’s time for a rethink on how we view this, still ongoing, pandemic.

Rest in peace.

I’m feeling controversial….again.

Working 12 hour shifts requires energy. Some dispatchers seem to think ambulance crews have unlimited supplies of energy.

When I first began we had the option to choose “uninterruptable” meal breaks. That meant that the dispatcher could only assign us a job once the meal break was over. Almost every time, within seconds of the break finishing we would be given a job. Crews set stopwatches at the start of breaks and proved this.

Many of the old school crews initially chose to remain interruptable, any other way showed a complete lack of dedication in their eyes. Most changed to be uninterruptable after being pushed hard and realising they were changing nothing but their own health.

A prime example of this was an older crew member I worked with when I first moved to the rural station. They worked late, took extra shifts (“not because of the money, but because the community needed us!”) and basically ran their body into the ground. They became a hazard on shift because their body was no longer coping. Finally they retired and, after a handshake from some senior officer who’d never worked with them or particularly knew much about them, they never heard from the service again. They have their NHS pension, but two knee replacements later, no one has shown them any form of gratitude whatsoever for their decades of service, dedication and long term severe body wear and tear.

We enjoyed our breaks, we enjoyed the peace, a short period of time to switch off from the day’s jobs, sometimes to talk about the bad ones.

Then one day it happened – somewhere in a remote village, a trainee crew member was accused of letting a patient die while they were on a meal break. There was public outcry! The newspapers reported “Patient dies while ambulance paramedic drinks tea!” and other dramatisations. Details still appear to be sketchy regarding the whole incident, and the crew member was later found completely innocent, but the outcome was the removal of uninterruptable meal breaks nationally. Rumour has it that the patient actually died of hypothermia, not something that becomes fatal in the relatively short time it takes to drink a cup of tea, but no ambulance service officer ever stepped up to verify this, or defend the crew member in any other way.

For months, ambulance crews were being run for hours without breaks. Stories began circulating of crews testing their own blood sugar levels, finding them lower than acceptable levels then signing off unwell. The most I was was run was over 8 hours without a break. Finally the unions stepped in…

The union in my area was pointless. The reps knew the rules and they knew how to argue, but they were too close to management. “Yes” men, so nothing changed quickly. Eventually, nationally as far as I’m aware, rules were put in place whereby time windows were created within which crews must be given breaks, now known adamantly as “rest periods” by dispatchers. The only problem was that they could be given said rest period anywhere, and there were strict rules about being able to carry food, and consume it, in ambulances. Also, in winter especially, crews wanted access to microwave ovens to heat their soup etc.

Finally, after a number of incidents across the country, it was decided that crews would be returned to their home stations “wherever possible” for their rest periods. These rest periods could still be interrupted for a high priority job, but they had to return you as soon as possible for the remainder of the break.

For months, the distain was audible in the dispatchers’ voices over the radio as they returned you to your home station. For months they gleefully called, just as the microwave pinged, to send us to Cat A (the highest category) jobs. They also became experts in emotional blackmail, knowing that we would never turn down certain jobs. We got used to cold food, just as we had with cold coffee.

Things eventually settled, and dispatchers realised crews were actually happier after food…or rest. The public never knew any of this. Heaven forbid a patient found out the crew that was sent to them was tired and very hungry, possibly with reduced functionality, possibly with baseline observations unhealthier than their own.

There are many things the public don’t know about the Ambulance Services in the UK…….