Sunday 3 February 2008

A Not So Dire Emergency

As a child I was taught that 999 was a very important number used in emergencies only, to the extent that I would still be very cautious of dialing it now for fear of jamming the phone line and preventing a real emergency call from being answered.

It would appear that many people don't quite share the same perspective. I've heard all manner of outrageous stories; people phoning 999 for the date, the local B&Q number, period pain...

This week a patient was brought into Eye Casualty by ambulance having dialed 999 because she had conjunctivitis.

Give me strength!!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I have a very vivid memory of Phil telling me to dial 999 when we were really little. I dialed, then quickly hung up when someone answered. Phil then told me the police would come and get me! It was terrifying!

If I'm not mistaken, isn't conjunctivitis just pink eye? Hardly a good reason to call.

By the way, I love reading your posts - I even told a handful of my co-workers about the eye removal process you described the other day! Fascinating!

Anonymous said...

I've only dialed 999 once, and even though there was a nearby fence on fire and the fire dept turned up to put it out, I still felt guilty about ringing!!

The Little Medic said...

I was taught the same when I was little. I've phoned 999 twice in my laugh - once during an emergency and the other time by accident. I felt so guilty about the accidently call (on my phone in my pocket despite the keys being locked) I wrote an appology - can't remember who I sent it to though.

Staff Nurse M said...

Try not to get too het up. Sometimes the ambulance service has to deal with such calls. It's life sometimes.

Trouble is though, no ambulance man worth his salt would dare leave a patient behind.