So, two nights ago I was dealing with death, people collapsing on the DLR, young men vomiting blood and looking like death warmed up, and women having miscarriages. Basically everyone I attended to on Wednesday night needed an ambulance.

Last night we had...

One patient with indigestion (for two years - FRU on scene when we got there as it was given as a 'chest pain')
One 'gone before arrival' (a drunk who phoned 999 complaining of a broken arm, but had wandered off before we got there).
One Overdose 'acting violent', who also had gone before we turned up (driven to hospital by her brother)
One 'Facial injury' (A woman slapped by her husband, no injury and she didn't want to go to hospital - her husband was taken away by the police)
One patient with Ascites and chronic alcoholism, who was referred to hospital by the GP. Could have travelled in her husbands car.
One call to a police station for an accused who had swallowed some drugs - he denied everything and the police doctor cleared his health.
And one patient with an arthritic knee...

The patient with an arthritic knee was a 70 year old male who had called out his GP. Said GP had then diagnosed arthritis - and decided that the patient needed hospital treatment. We got the call, and had to go out of our area we are supposed to be covering to pick the patient up. The booked hospital was even further out of our area - so much so it was in another sector.
When we got there the patients son was present and as we loaded his father into the ambulance we were told that 'I'll follow up in the car'.
The look of sheer despair my crewmate gave me had me in fits of laughter, thankfully I was outside the ambulance so neither the patient (or his son who had gone to get the car) could see me.
There was no reason why the patient couldn't have been driven by his son - yet here we were, out of area, going even further out for someone who didn't need an ambulance.

Still, after the past few days it was nice to have a shift where no-one was actually 'ill', and so we could spend the shift in a fairly relaxed state.