A call which illustrates some of the points made in my previous post perfectly:
Sometimes when the call comes in, the level of background noise is such that I actually recoil and have to move my headphone away from my ear slightly. This was one of those calls. What sounded like fifteen people were shouting and screaming.
“What’s the problem?” I asked.
“Ambulance!” said a foreign male.
“What’s the problem?” I asked.
“It’s an emergency!” screamed a hysterical woman.
“What’s the problem?” I asked.
“Get ‘ere quick!” bellowed a gruff sounding man.
“What’s the problem?” I asked.
“Ambulance, naaaaaah!” said a squeaky teenager.
I tried a difference tack.
“What’s the address of the emergency?”
“Shot!” said yet another voice. “He’s been shot!”
“What’s the address of the emergency?” I asked, feeling nervous and excited at the same time — I’ve never taken a call about a shooting before.
“Sorry, what was that?” said a reasonably sensible sounding young man.
“Okay, okay, PLEASE, don’t give the phone to anyone else. What’s the address?”
“It’s a chicken shop… Bernard’s Fried Chicken in Dicey Broadway in Roughville… I just saw all these people screaming and panicking so I came over to see what was going on… hey, everyone, what is going on?”
“Be careful!” I ordered. “Someone’s been shot. Don’t go in there unless you’re sure it’s safe. Get someone to come out and give you some information if you can?”
It took another couple of minutes before anyone came out of the shop to talk to the man, and getting information out of him was not easy when he did.
“How many people have been hurt?”
“One - a little boy, he’s about one…”
Oh my god, I thought, they’ve shot a baby!
“And the person who shot him? Are they still nearby?”
“Shot?” said the man from the shop. “He ain’t been shot!”
“But someone said there’d been a shooting!” I protested.
“Oh naaah,” said the man, without a hint of shame. “He just said that so you’d get down here quick, like.”
“So, what is wrong?” I asked.
“Well, the baby, it wasn’t breathing like, but now it is, right…” (I suspect the baby had had a fit; people don’t usually just stop and start breathing randomly just like that otherwise.)
By this point, several polices cars, an ambulance and a duty officer were all on way to a meet-up point nearby in order to arrive on scene en masse. Ambulances don’t go into crime scenes until they are given police clearance to do so. (I read somewhere the other day that they didn’t arrive at Russell Square at the July 7th bomb for two hours, which was news to me because as far as I know, they were dispatched straight away - I guess they must have been held back by the police). I had to get a message to the dispatch desk pronto that there was no shooting and that everyone could be stood down, except the ambulance, which needed to get to the sick baby sharpish…
I would have given him a lecture about how lying to the emergency services wastes everyone’s time and would have actually caused a delay in reaching the baby had the lie not been uncovered, but I was too busy banging my head on the desk with exasperation.
The ambulance arrived before I could say anything else, which is probably a good thing, because cracks in my usually serene and unflappable demeanour were starting to show.
March 31st, 2006 at 4:14 pm
I can’t believe you are still publishing the addresses that these calls are coming from!
March 31st, 2006 at 5:29 pm
It was Russell Square where the Ambulances took two hours on the 7 July.
At King’s Cross we only had to wait 30 minutes, it only seemed like hours.
March 31st, 2006 at 5:35 pm
Cheers, I stand corrected.
March 31st, 2006 at 5:42 pm
Probably the most depressing thing on your blog is learning how much callers will lie to get an ambulance.
>>>>John said,
I can’t believe you are still publishing the addresses that these calls are coming from!
>>>>
Hahaha!
I see you did take Sharon’s advice to make the fakeness of the addresses more obvious - nicely done. (Though Bernard’s Fried Chicken is an awesome name and really ought to exist in real life.)
March 31st, 2006 at 5:57 pm
is it a criminal offence to lie to an ambulance controller? I realise a lot of cases would be very hard to prove (like callers not knowing what was going on, or panicking) but presumably the ambulance service wouldn’t press charges unless it felt there was a really clear case- someone telling barefaced lies purely to get seen quicker. If tehre were hefty fines involved perhaps people would be more keen to tell the truth!
or do you think perhaps the LAS (or whoever) would take the view that this would in some way put people off calling when in genuine need…?
March 31st, 2006 at 7:30 pm
I’m quite amazed that you are able to hold your tongue, I don’t think I’d be able to resist the odd snide comment or lecture.
I think it’s a little easier for us Techs as the problem is right there in front of us and you can determine for yourself whether the problem is a bonafide one, or if they’re putting on the groans for effect. When they are putting on the groans you can always smile (on the inside) in the knowledge that they’re going to be waiting in casualty quite a few hours.
March 31st, 2006 at 8:05 pm
Does lying really get us there any quicker? My blue light taxi is a converted Ford Transit, similar to most services I think, or are LAS still using LDVs or whatever they were. It handles like a dead whale and goes 0 to 60 in about 10 minutes. Sod response times, I go as quickly and as safely as possible, which means ‘not very fast’ in all the traffic and down country lanes. Even when I’m in a response car, my safety and those of other road users comes first, regardless of the incident type. The only time I will make an exception is for a ‘child suspended’ and I once had great pleasure in “taking out” a whole row of traffic cones to get through some road works !! God I love this job
March 31st, 2006 at 8:17 pm
Thanks for the correction.
March 31st, 2006 at 10:23 pm
Interesting mindset — a shooting will get an ambulance there faster than a baby not breathing????
March 31st, 2006 at 11:23 pm
laputain - AFAIK it isn’t illegal to lie to Ambulance Control although loosely speaking it could be construed as “Obtaining money or goods (which includes services) by deception”. If the call required the police (or you lied to a police officer in police control) could argue wasting police time.
It is only in the last few months that the courts are taking assaults on ambulance staff with even a hint of the seriousness it so deserves. Personally I think there should be a law against “Interfering with Emergency Personnel and Processes”. It should be illegal to give false information to any Emergency Control Staff or Emergency Staff on the ground including NHS and Private Ambulances, Volunteer Rescue Units, Coastguard and so on.
Now NeeNaw can say I am totally wrong and misrepersenting the law….!
April 1st, 2006 at 12:15 am
Causing a Public Nuiseance is always a favourite. I’ve had a few callers prosecuted before now for that one. But they are always the ring-us-500-times-a-day types.
April 1st, 2006 at 3:15 am
In New Zealand we have a law against “Impeding Rescue”:
“Crimes Act 1961:
204 Impeding rescue
(1) Every one is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 10 years who, without lawful justification or excuse, prevents or impedes or attempts to prevent or impede any person who is attempting to save his own life or the life of any other person.”
I don’t know if anyone’s been charged with it.
It’s so frustrating that people hold such stupid ideas about calling an ambulance. Saying there’s been a shooting will slow everything down; the amulance will have to wait for police, the ambo crew won’t know what’s going on when they arrive on-scene and the call taker won’t be able to give proper advice over the line.
April 1st, 2006 at 8:38 am
Its a shame you had to cancel the police, several big coppers with guns venting their anger on the idiot might make him think again
April 1st, 2006 at 3:33 pm
Hi Mark,
one of your readers sent me over here. I was at Russell Sq on 7/7 and was in the carriage that was bombed and it was the BBC and then later testimony from survivors including myself that got the story out about ambulances not arriving until almost 11am - the bomb having gone off at c. 8.50 - 8.55am. I know an ambulance was dispatched at 9.18am , or at least called for, but we needed lots of ambulances there. I think there was first of all confusion about Kings X being the major scene ( unfortunately although most people went to Kings X the dead and severely injured were in carriage one which evacuated to Russell Sq & the rest of the passengers detrained to Kings X which was a lot nearer to the train whih had just left Kings X when the bomb exploded) . After 9.45am there were further calls for Tavistock when the bus exploded there. But it seems that there was confusion about ambulances needing to be dispatched to Russell Sq and maybe that is why they did not come. Or maybe the police held them back; there were fears of further bombs.
Though I did not see any police either, so I think Russell Sq was not registered as an incident for ages due to confusion: the help went to Kings X and Tavistock, not Russell Sq. This was a shame because the most serious injuries ( and the 26 deaths) were in my carriage, the one that evacuated to Russell Sq ( though the back of carriage one did go to Kings X - the bomb was in the middle of the first carriage so the front of the carriage went forward to Russell Sq and the rest of the train, back to Kings X) . Anyway, if you can shed any light on this, I, and far more importantly, the London Assembly who are holding an enquiry into 7/7 would love to hear from you( the LA can take anonymous testimony and by email, in writing or in a private interview)
http://www.london.gov.uk/assembly/scrutiny/7julyreview_contacts.jsp.
Thank you for the work that you do and great blog.
Rachel
April 1st, 2006 at 4:45 pm
Hi Rachel
Have you spoken to the PALS office (020 7827 6678 I think)? They have all the data and call logs available to them. If so, what did they say? It strikes me strange that you don’t have an answer because they must know what happened.
On July 7th, once a major incident had been declared, I was working in the main control room dealing with the rest of London (telling them we had no ambulances, mainly) whilst the people dealing with the major incident moved to another room. I know we were aware that ambulances were needed at Aldgate, Aldgate East, Liverpool St, Kings Cross, Russell Squiare, Edgware Road and Paddington by the time the bus bomb went off because I was talking to the local Marylebone police about it at the time. There was confusion as to how many bombs were were actually dealing with, but I don’t know why Russell Square was “missed out” as we definitely knew we were needed there. As far as I knew, there were no problems with numbers of ambulances at the bomb scenes, only with keeping the rest of London covered. I was really surprised when I read your post about the long waits you experienced.
I can’t really give official testimony since these observations are just from what I picked up being in the same building as the people dealing with dispatching ambulances to the incident, and being very busy myself I couldn’t keep up with everything going on elsewhere.
I really hope you get some answers on this, you deserve them, and well done for being so strong and determined after what you went through.
Mark
April 1st, 2006 at 11:23 pm
Craig D - That law would do just nicely here in UK I think……
April 1st, 2006 at 11:25 pm
Thank you. I left the area at 9.45am in a taxi to UCH and there were no ambulances when I left, and I have had the lack of ambulances confirmed by the BBC chief political reporter and the other passengers who were left at the scene; the BBC showed me the call logs to confrrim the times. I will chase up PALS myself and see if they can get an official answer to me. It may be that the Tavistock bomb close nearby at 9.45 ish prevented ambulances which had been dispatched getting to the scene. I remember that the UCH staff thought there were firther bombs and it may be the police prevented ambulances getting to the Russell Sq scene.
Cheers & thanks x
April 1st, 2006 at 11:43 pm
Hey… this is one of the funny ones to me…… What stupid people. Working in police control, i’ve had this before, people saying “GUNS GUNS”…
And then you tell them “well there not coming if theres GUNS, it does not make it come faster, it slows us down! ”
“Oh - no guns, no guns, I lied”.
April 3rd, 2006 at 2:03 am
as far as i heard 1 crew got russell square as a running call and were left hanging for ages getting grief from other services and dr’s on scene. not really on if true.
April 3rd, 2006 at 2:13 am
he first time i’ve ever left one of these messages…but the 7/7 thing really hits me hard. There was an ambulance, an officer and a team leader there at 0910, and we were on the train as fast as humanly possible. Everyone knows how streched we were that day and with the bus going off as well it took a little longer for the required number of ambulances to get there - as crews were coming across that en route to the station, but the patients were off the train and being treated by doctors and nurses from UCH and GT Ormond St just as fast as possible. There was no grief, we all worked well down there for nearly 3 hours. Nuff said.
April 3rd, 2006 at 10:49 am
Hi, I know they got to Kings Cross, but I don’t think they got to Russell Square. I and other survivors took care to say how there were many individual acts of heriosm and bravery and compassion and I don’t think that anyone is having a go at the men and women of the emergency services, only the communication. Ambulances did not get to Russell Square for ages, they seem to have gone to Kings X and Tavistock. When they did come, they were great, as people, but they did not have enough equipment.
What people did on the day was great. I am not havign a go. I am making the point that for some reason, Russell Square did not get ambulances for ages, and I am wondering why, because it was heartbreaking.
April 4th, 2006 at 12:04 am
Rachel, are you the same Rachel that had a brief blog on the BBC website?
April 4th, 2006 at 12:47 am
Hi,
I have been reading the comments left and have felt that I have to add something.
I am an EMD for London Ambulnace Service, and was working on the 7th July. I was involved in quite a few of the different scenes in the control room due to the desk I was working on. I have to add to other comments, we were cenrtainly very well aware of Russel Sq, and whem ambulnaces were requested, they were sent.
I think that questions need to ba asked of the Met Police, and the actions of their officers on the day, who were missdirecting ambulances to Tavistock Sq, instead of letting them continue to Rus Sq, If there was any delay caused to ambulances arriveing at Rus Sq, which there obviously was, then it was through no fault of ours. The expectations of LAS staff is very high at things like this and we have protocols to follow relating to triage etc… It is a very common problem, that when LAS people arrive at a scene, they get “bullied” into directly treating patients immediatly, instead of being able to get a clearer picture of the scene, request what resources are required and get these things actioned. There is one female member of LAS staff who when arriving at a scene, when trying to explain to a member of the LFB why she was not treating a patient, was screamed at with “Get on with it you fucking silly cow, there are people bleeding to death here…” Which is not helpfull, whilst this is not a bitching rant, we do not tell other services how to do their jobs, so they should have the understanding to let us do our job, the way it needs to be done.
I have many friends who were directly involved “on the ground” on the day, and obviously many colleagues that I worked very hard with in the control room. I still to this day find it hard to deal with, we all did our individual and collective best. The flowers that I left at KingsX read “For those we were unable to save, Our thoughts are with you always” and that is how I will feel till the day I die, we could not save everyone that day, and I am sorry for the ones we could not.
EMD LAS
April 5th, 2006 at 10:45 am
Hi again, yes, this is Rachel who blogged for the BC that week. I’ve been in touch with Mark and passed on the LSAS commmunications between the Greater London assembly who are investigating further what arose on 7th July thorugh a series oif scruting hearings and compiling a report. It looks as if there were communications problems and this is no way a reflection of the men and women of LAS who were clearly doing all they could and I thank them for their more-than-professional humane and heroic efforts. The next entry has the report which sheds more light on the response on that day and it is good to find that most sites had a speedy response and to understand what the difficulties were at Russell Square which was so close to Tavistock and the other, much more visible explosion.
Thank you all once again
Rachel
April 5th, 2006 at 10:48 am
Sorry, that should read ‘BBC’ and ‘LAS’
April 8th, 2006 at 8:22 pm
can I just add something to this, which has bugged me for many months now… The doc that was made by the BBC, 7/7 - The Day the Bombs Came, or something like that… There was a lady, and I am not sure if this is you Rachel or not, but who lost both her legs on the KX/Rus Sq train. There were some words that said, something about her favourite words are now “priority one” or something to those effects, but i find it intolerable of the BBC that they, and we have made many complaints about this, left all LAS people out of the doc and I would love them to explain how that triage tag magicaly made its way to Rachel, folded its self to the correct priority, wrote her observations on its self and bound its self to her wrist or where ever it was place… We have the most amazing automated triage cards, great, isnt it!
April 9th, 2006 at 6:00 pm
It was a lady called Gill, and the account can be found here http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/4435172.stm. The two police officers who found her and made her ‘priority one’ tell their story, as does Gill. By the time Gill was taken from the tube - she was the last person alive brought form it - there were ambulances there and in Gill’s case, a volunteer ambulance crew form Essex took er to St. Thomas hospital, though her heart stopped twice on the journey. Gill’s husband spoke movingly of the work of the LAS in saving Gill at the London Assembly when he gave testimony
I wasn’t triaged: I made my way in a cab from Russell Square to UCH and self-presented, not an ambulance; there were no ambulances when I came out of the tunnel to Russell Square. Mark has a post about it, the LAS report here http://www.neenaw.co.uk/index.php/ambulances/95/july-7th-ambulance-report/#comments
and it is also linked on my blog.
April 15th, 2006 at 10:59 pm
I beg to differ, but I find it exceptionaly hard to believe that the police triaged patients… They do not have the training or the knowledge to do that. Sorry if it sounds like I am being petty, but they are simply not able to prioritise patients. Same as we are not able to arrest people, they dont have the medical knowledge or the skills to do it.