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. The ambulance is much bigger than my regular wheelchair adapted people carrier. It was a "proper" ambulance except without the blue lights.
The first patient was an elderly woman who needed to be wheelchair assisted which means she had to be put in a wheelchair and wheeled to the ambulance where she got in and sat down. The second was a man who I came back for. He was saying that he didn't want to go home so I left him to go and get the third patient but he had gone home in a taxi. So I disinfected the seats, handles and wheelchair and went back for the second patient but he had become more resistant. I took the first patient alone and came back for the second. By the time I got to him he was saying that I was his enemy and so were the people at "the home". I phoned the office to say that I thought it would be too risky to take him on his own because he would be alone in the back with a bulkhead between us. I said I needed a two team. The controller said that he was brought by a solo and should leave with a solo. While I was still on the phone a male nurse said that he would accompany the patient. I told the controller and that could have been that. Whilst leaving, the man started shouting, "I am a free man, you can't force me back to the home". The nurse said "actually sir, you're sectioned". Curiously, that made the man calm down and we went peacefully. I now know that I am not supposed to carry sectioned patients but at least I now know to check first.
I cleaned the vehicle again and went on break. After midnight I had three separate trouble free "walkers", cleaning the areas they touched between each journey.
The following Tuesday I was given a Covid19 ambulance complete with all the required PPE. It's very much a just in case job. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday were all solo nights in more ways than one. I worked alone and had one patient a night. But there are some hospitals dotted around in London and no doubt elsewhere, which serve hot food 24/7. I found my way to one of those and feasted. There was even an Iftar corner for Muslims breaking their Ramadan fast. Lots of my colleagues are to be found in these places so I managed to kill maybe 7 hours in and out of a hospital restaurant. The rest of my ten hour shifts were spent finding and ferrying the precious few patients that I had and cleaning the ambulance.
So to yesterday, the end of my first full week and the first time I went out with a partner. She drove and I sat in the back. We had a Covid19 ambulance so we could only take Covid19 patients. Our first job was collecting a patient from a hospital near our depot and dropping nearby too. The guy was a wheelchair assist. The second patient was going what should have been a 45 minute journey but the 4 year old vehicle overheated. We had to rest the engine, fill it up with water and complete the journey. We then swapped ambulances to a stretcher carrier and we had a stretcher case. Nothing to it but completely new to me.
So, not much to report. I am happy to say that all the PPE that was required was there and for all, ourselves, the nurses and the patients.
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. The ambulance is much bigger than my regular wheelchair adapted people carrier. It was a "proper" ambulance except without the blue lights.
The first patient was an elderly woman who needed to be wheelchair assisted which means she had to be put in a wheelchair and wheeled to the ambulance where she got in and sat down. The second was a man who I came back for. He was saying that he didn't want to go home so I left him to go and get the third patient but he had gone home in a taxi. So I disinfected the seats, handles and wheelchair and went back for the second patient but he had become more resistant. I took the first patient alone and came back for the second. By the time I got to him he was saying that I was his enemy and so were the people at "the home". I phoned the office to say that I thought it would be too risky to take him on his own because he would be alone in the back with a bulkhead between us. I said I needed a two team. The controller said that he was brought by a solo and should leave with a solo. While I was still on the phone a male nurse said that he would accompany the patient. I told the controller and that could have been that. Whilst leaving, the man started shouting, "I am a free man, you can't force me back to the home". The nurse said "actually sir, you're sectioned". Curiously, that made the man calm down and we went peacefully. I now know that I am not supposed to carry sectioned patients but at least I now know to check first.
I cleaned the vehicle again and went on break. After midnight I had three separate trouble free "walkers", cleaning the areas they touched between each journey.
The following Tuesday I was given a Covid19 ambulance complete with all the required PPE. It's very much a just in case job. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday were all solo nights in more ways than one. I worked alone and had one patient a night. But there are some hospitals dotted around in London and no doubt elsewhere, which serve hot food 24/7. I found my way to one of those and feasted. There was even an Iftar corner for Muslims breaking their Ramadan fast. Lots of my colleagues are to be found in these places so I managed to kill maybe 7 hours in and out of a hospital restaurant. The rest of my ten hour shifts were spent finding and ferrying the precious few patients that I had and cleaning the ambulance.
So to yesterday, the end of my first full week and the first time I went out with a partner. She drove and I sat in the back. We had a Covid19 ambulance so we could only take Covid19 patients. Our first job was collecting a patient from a hospital near our depot and dropping nearby too. The guy was a wheelchair assist. The second patient was going what should have been a 45 minute journey but the 4 year old vehicle overheated. We had to rest the engine, fill it up with water and complete the journey. We then swapped ambulances to a stretcher carrier and we had a stretcher case. Nothing to it but completely new to me.
So, not much to report. I am happy to say that all the PPE that was required was there and for all, ourselves, the nurses and the patients.
Can't believe they sent you out with not much of an induction. Was there nothing about safeguarding or handling of patients? There are nursing practices I'd have thought were worth knowing about. Good for you setting out so nobly.
ReplyDeleteThe issue was simply poor communication from the home and the hospital to the ambulance service. I have had enough induction to perform all the duties I am obliged to.
DeleteYou still enjoying the job ? Is the ppe comfortable? What was it like with the partner? How long was your shift on Saturday?
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