In posts on two Facebook forums, GP Survival and Resilient GP, family doctors write anonymously, revealing their concerns about how hard they sometimes find it to get an ambulance to attend to a sick patient – and the risks that can pose. “I ended up in the back of a police car with sirens going with a stranger who’d had a probable stroke on the street. Category 2 ambulance hadn’t come after 45 minutes so flagged down a cop car. They bundled us in. “Emergency department full of waiting ambulances unable to unload and I eventually left him in the very capable hands of the stroke team. Terrifying how broken our system is and how many people had likely just walked past him before I spotted him from my car. “With so many ambulance issues, I’d hate to think of someone in my village left with no support in a similar situation.” “Our emergency care practitioner called an ambulance at 6pm on Wednesday 6 July. Very elderly gentleman. Off legs, urinary symptoms, not eating/drinking. Guess when crew arrived? This morning, Friday 8 July, around 10am – 40 hours [later]. And the ECP had to wait 35 minutes just for 999 call to be answered!” “I recently complained [to the local ambulance service] for first time ever when ambulance refused to take a very sick patient of mine into hospital that I’d assessed over the phone because ‘her obs are normal’. They weren’t but even if they had been the reliance on these alone, ignoring the medical background, the family history and my history was just wrong. “I then had to go out and see her, re-call 999 (with many hours additional delay) and she died after a few days in hospital.” “I had a situation recently where I had to make the decision to put someone having an MI [myocardial infarction heart attack] into the car and drove to A&E. It was a neighbour. The husband knocked on my door after they were told the ambulance would be over an hour. They knew I was a GP and so asked for help. “I dithered because all I could think of was her arresting en route but realised that could happen at home too. It was a huge risk to take but thankfully it ended as well as it could.” “This is an increasingly common scenario. Three potential MIs in surgery recently. One put in GP’s car after no show from ambulance, next drove self (not recommended and against my advice) and third taken by wife to A&E. “We used to have ambulance response time of under 10 minutes. But that was before lockdown.” “I had a neighbour [suffer an] aortic abdominal aneurysm. Told it will be six to seven hours. Family drove him instead. Sadly he died from ruptured AAA.” “We had this happen on a Friday at work. Elderly lady walked in with central crushing chest pain. After three hours of waiting for ambulance, two members of staff took her in their car. Very difficult situation to know what to do.” “Took woman who’d come off bike, knocked herself out and ripped her ear and hurt her leg to hospital. She came to quickly and could stand but I thought she’d broken her hip. “Freezing cold. Ambulance was going to be three hours. She had broken her hip.” “Just tried to get an ambulance for my partner’s elderly mother who’s 89 and probably had a stroke. Husband rang 999 to be told no ambulances available. Then I rang the GP who said the same and told us to get a private one. “What the hell is going on when you can’t get an emergency ambulance? We’ve had to get a private one.”