It's an ambulance - not a taxi
NSW Minister for Health, John Della Bosca, announced a new campaign would
be rolled out to better inform the community about the proper
use of ambulances.
Paramedics were becoming frustrated by the increasing number of people attempting to use ambulances as a taxi service for treatments of minor ailments. This type of behaviour prevents paramedics from attending life threatening emergencies and puts lives at risk. During 2006/07, Ambulance responded to 22,000 incidents where patients refused any form of treatment. Paramedics are highly trained health professionals who spend up to three years qualifying to provide out of hospital medical care to members of the community. A significant number of triple zero calls requesting an ambulance response were not an emergency and did not require medical assistance.
The "Don’t use an ambulance as a taxi" campaign will include two different radio commercials that feature re-enactments of inappropriate calls that will be distributed to FM and AM radio stations in metropolitan and regional areas. Posters will also be appearing in the offices of local GPs to reinforce the message.
Examples of inappropriate calls to Ambulance include:
- A person asked paramedics to retrieve a pillow that fell off the bed as he was too tired to retrieve it.
- Person thought she had cut her foot. In fact, she had a piece of beetroot in her slipper.
- Person requesting their bed be adjusted.
- Person testing medical alert alarm. When ambulance arrived stated: “Now I know it works.”
- Call from a shopping centre, person requesting: “I live near the hospital could you give me a lift home?”
- A person complaining they could not sleep.
- Broken fingernail.
Paramedics are there to provide an emergency service for people needing urgent medical attention for such conditions as shortness of breath, unconsciousness, chest pain, broken bone(s), traumatic accident, head injury, suspected heart attack or stroke and excessive blood loss.
Download > Radio commercial No 1. > Radio Commercial No 2.
Ambulance is committed to assisting the community create safer and healthier environments and outcomes by making prevention everyone’s businesses. A number of innovative community education programs have been implemented to assist identify life threatening conditions, understand what to do in an emergency and the importance of adopting illness prevention strategies.