Rank: Forum user 
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Morning All, If a first aider is dealing with a situation and the 999 call advisor states it will be 2 + hours for an ambulance, what’s your thoughts on staff using personal cars to transport the patient to A&E? The hospital is 5 mins drive from our premises.
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Rank: Super forum user 
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AVOID 1) Does the personal car have business insurance in the event of an accident? 2) Would you offer a nice beige interior to someone dripping blood? 3) How does the First Aider deal with the causalty if they are overcome / deteriorate on route? Any transport which would normally involve an Ambulance should be in a company insured vehicle or local taxi with someone accompanying the patient. It may be 5 minutes on a good day but there are always days that prove to be an exception.
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Rank: Super forum user
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AVOID 1) Does the personal car have business insurance in the event of an accident? 2) Would you offer a nice beige interior to someone dripping blood? 3) How does the First Aider deal with the causalty if they are overcome / deteriorate on route? Any transport which would normally involve an Ambulance should be in a company insured vehicle or local taxi with someone accompanying the patient. It may be 5 minutes on a good day but there are always days that prove to be an exception.
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Rank: Super forum user 
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Although it used to be an absolute no, I would now permit it, because the ambulance service is no longer fit for purpose (through, I think, no faulty of their own).
Last summer we had a passer-by (nothing to do with us) fall flat on their face in the street outside our office. They broke their fall with their face, and there was some quantity of blood.
The person was alone. Our receptionist brought them into our office and one of our first aiders attended. Ambulance was called since it was head injury. Casualty started out OK - just a little dazed and bleeding, but over the course of the next 30 minutes or so was deteriorating, woozy, and then moved on to talking gibberish. Our first aider was somewhat stressed and called 999 again to be told that it didn't sound life-threatening enough yet to get an ambulance and no arrival time could be predicted.
Fortunately the casualty remained conscious enough to unlock their mobile phone and we contacted their spouse who came and got them and took them to hospital in their own private car. Had we not managed that, I think I'd have allowed someone who was willing to to use theirs.
This is inside the M25 - we're not remote. I think if you have a casualty who isn't actually going to be dying in the next 20 mminutes, there's a good chance you won't get an ambulance within the working day.
(And that was a year or so after my father-in-law spent 18 hours on his kitchen floor with a broken hip because my wife couldn't lift him and no ambulance was available.)
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Rank: Forum user 
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We would permit with the following caviats, if personal car it must be someone with business insurance (usually we have a list and copy of insurance) or a company car and a first aider must accompany. If its a taxi then again a first aider goes with and comes back in the taxi. Both of these scenarios played out in a former business and I was the one that went in the taxi on the second occasion. Covid rules were still in place and you couldn't stop with anyone (I did let the taxi stop before I kicked him out....LOL) I agree regarding ambulances, unless its life threatening you'll go in the queue and I'm not sure that I disagree with that. If its "walking wounded" we get them to the hospital, leave the ambulances for serious stuff.
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Rank: Forum user
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TBH this does happen, especially for minor injuries (broken bone, I say minor..). Normally its a company car driven by an employee, with the First Aider and Injuried party. Worst case, people have been sent to hospital in a Taxi with the First Aider.
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Rank: Super forum user
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Originally Posted by: thunderchild  We would permit with the following caviats, if personal car it must be someone with business insurance (usually we have a list and copy of insurance) or a company car and a first aider must accompany. Yes, I agree with both those caveats - the majority of our staff do have business purposes insurance (because they are visiting other premises in their own vehicle occasionally). Quote:
I agree regarding ambulances, unless its life threatening you'll go in the queue and I'm not sure that I disagree with that. If its "walking wounded" we get them to the hospital, leave the ambulances for serious stuff.
I don't disagree in principle, but I think it's a problem when life threatening enough to warrant an ambulance has been stretched to the point that a head injury victim who was previously lucid but has deteriorated such that they are now unintelligible does not qualify. FWIW, we believe the casualty survived - the spouse contacted us with thanks a couple of days later, and at that stage they were still alive, so I suppose the assessment that they wouldn't die if an ambulance was not sent was factually correct.
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Rank: Forum user
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Originally Posted by: achrn Originally Posted by: thunderchild I don't disagree in principle, but I think it's a problem when life threatening enough to warrant an ambulance has been stretched to the point that a head injury victim who was previously lucid but has deteriorated such that they are now unintelligible does not qualify. FWIW, we believe the casualty survived - the spouse contacted us with thanks a couple of days later, and at that stage they were still alive, so I suppose the assessment that they wouldn't die if an ambulance was not sent was factually correct.
Yea, they have gone from "walking wounded" to serious pretty quick and with a head injury you just don't know do you? And I also agree its not the fault of the ambulance service but that's a debate for another day! LOL
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