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Stretcher case

Now where was I? Goodness a lot of time has passed and there has been some big change. The pay issue and the work detail all got sorted so I am now on secondment from my regular company to another company and I am in the Covid19 team of non-emergency ambulance drivers. Yesterday marked the end of my first full week which ran from Tuesday to Saturday 6 pm til 4 am. My first night was actually the last working shift of the previous week. Being a Saturday, whilst I was expected and there was kit (a PDA and PPE) and a vehicle for me, there wasn't much of an induction. The person in the office helped me log into the PDA. It's like a phone that control sends your jobs to.  I was given a call sign and a PIN, a key to the ambulance and a fuel card. I was to work alone that night so, unbeknown to myself, I wasn't given any covid19 work. Once I was logged into the system there was already a job for me which involved collecting three patients from a hospital and taking them home.
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Pay Cut on Day 2!

Well. it's not actually Day 2 because Day 2 got postponed so I'm back to come-when-you're-called patient transport. They can be Covid-19 positive but usually they're not. They're nearly always renal patients. The worst news today was that the pay has been cut because the host company didn't realise how much the drivers were being paid but they found out thru us chit-chatting in the smoking area. Who knew it was a secret? Anyway the pay has gone from £200 a day for "probably" a 10 hour day, first to £20 an hour for hours worked (so probably £120 or maybe £140 for yesterday) and from there down to £15 an hour for hours worked.  Got that? The daily rate was changed to hourly during Day 1 and the hourly rate got reduced on what should have been Day 2 but wasn't because the whole contract between over-my-head companies was being renegotiated for most of the day. And now I have to go to a hospital to collect a non Covid-19 patient. Covid-19 training re
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False alarm

Phew. The  controller has read the "notes to the job" and the idea is we log in at 6:30 am on an app called an XDA and we still only need to get to the site for 8:45. I reccied the place earlier and the journey there will be about a half hour.
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Early warning, actually little or no warning

I was told yesterday by a controller at my firm's office that I would have to report at our client firm's office at 8:45 am for 9 am kick-off with the Covid-19 patient training. I have just received a text telling me it's  6:30 am start. I phoned the office just now and the controller there said he had no idea what it was all about and I will have to speak to the morning controller tomorrow which means I have to be up and ready for 6 am at the latest in case I need to get to the site at at 6:30. Whether I leave the house at 6 am or 8:15, they've added 2¼ hours to my working day with no notice. Ho hum. I'm just off to reccy the site. Laters.
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An Ambulance Driver Writes.....

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I'm starting a new blog about being a non-emergency ambulance driver during the coronavirus crisis. I first applied for the job back in December 2019 and started early to mid February 2020. In December no one at all was talking about the coronavirus and even into February this year it all seemed so distant and I was just happy to be earning what was promised, £400 for a 60 hour week. Thank G-d I don't need much money on top of my pension and having no mortgage. Also, I am twice separated and all my children and grandchildren live abroad so I'm effectively single with no serious commitments time or money wise. The £400 was a guarantee whereby we are paid by mileage per job but if the jobs value falls short of £400 the company gives a subsidy to pull us up to the £400. If you did the maths you'll know that the guarantee amounts to £6.67 per hour.  Many hours are spent on standby. Oh, why am I telling you this? After 4 or 5 weeks of £400 a week (one week I got £491 becau
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