Not too busy to say congratulations to the ambulance crew who spotted the smoking car bomb. Who knows how many lives they saved.

No, I'm not going to mention who they are.

It would have been nice if police and the media had given a bit more of a 'well done' to the LAS crew though.

This little story has popped up on my radar.

First the crime.

(Trainee Paramedic) Stephen Mason was attacked in August last year. He was unconscious for 12 hours and off work for four months.

Now the people who admitted the attack.

Soldier Jake Roe, 21, and doctor Nik Mann, 27

And the punishment?

200 Hours community service and a £3,000 (or £300, reports differ) compensation.

The reason the judge gave for why they didn't receive prison time?

"If they receive prison sentences they will lose their jobs which serve the country and the community," he said.

GAH! And possibly a false assumption.

Primarily the judge is sending the message that you can nearly beat someone to death, and as long as you have a 'worthy' job you can receive a much lighter sentence. This isn't as bad as the judge that told the paramedic who was beaten by his patient that it was 'part of the job and he should expect it', or the mental health trust that had a job description including "Exposure to verbal and physical aggression from patients and their relatives and or carers."

So a trainee paramedic gets the crap kicked out of him, but because the guilty parties have the right jobs they pretty much get away with four hours a week for a year of voluntary work.

My brother the teacher is taking this story into his school today, so that he can explain to the children that if they get good exam results and a decent job then they can get away with a lot more than if they are unemployed. Also that they shouldn't work for the ambulance service, because then your bruises (and coma) mean less.

I wonder if I would get a similar sentence were I to come across these people and put them in a coma? Or would I get a heavy sentence because these jobs are more 'worthy' than mine?

There is nothing quite like a story like this to make you realise exactly how valued you are.

---

I'm going to be kicking a lot of 'friends' on Facebook in the next few hours - After looking at it I think that it will be much more use if I restrict that particular network to people that I know rather than including people who read my blog. I'll still be accepting anyone on Livejournal and Myspace. Sorry - it's not that I hate you, just that I think that Facebook works better if I keep the numbers small.

Comments have been disabled from this post so that no-one can influence any further action from legal or professional bodies. I am so proud of people that it didn't turn into a classic internet flame-war.

I’m feeling really disconnected – I shouldn’t do, I have a metric ton of computers in my flat, even a few old laptops…

But without my Macbook which I’d set up ‘just right’, along with all my emaail settings and the like I feel like I’m missing an arm.  I think that it’s because my desktop needs me to sacrifice a small animal before it’ll start up…

What I would like to know though is why it takes ‘7–10 days’ to fix a problem which I could fix in forty minutes if I had the parts.

This is why blogging has been slight of late, and why I’ve been pretty much unable to answer any emails.

 

---

But…

There is superb news, both from my publisher.  Firstly my publisher Clare Christian won ‘Best Young Publisher’ and secondly I’ve sold the rights to my book to various people – which is fun.

Clare writes about the award here (where you can see my gap-toothed smile); and about the rights stuff here.

 

I've come to the realisation that I use Twitter as a place to stick ideas for further blogposts, sort of a public memo-space. Which is a bit daft as I have a word-processor on my phone/PDA, but there is something about the immediacy of publishing that appeals to me.

Yesterday was the London Marathon, temperatures were high and all my patients were over the age of 60. They weren't running the Marathon of course.

Instead the St John Ambulance people were staffing it - I've got to admit a bit of jealousy that they get to do all the fun stuff like concerts and sports events, while I get to wrestle with drunks. And before you ask, no, I won't be joining them, there is still bad feeling between a lot of folk in the London Ambulance Service and St John ambulance. Most of it tied to the dispute of the late eighties.

Also, way would I do my day job and not get paid for it. I have a mercenary soul.

Going back to the Marathon, it's sad news that one of the runners has died, but given the weather it's not entirely unsurprising. He must have been running on pure willpower and my condolences go out to his family and friends.

I wonder how we are going to cope with the Olympics, loads more people and I doubt there will be any new A&E departments, in fact the government is trying to close down two local A&E departments. Given that Newham hospital has had to double up it's cubicles to see the 'normal' stream of patients, I dread to think what will happen when we have a couple of hundred thousand visitors to the area.

Returning to St John Ambulance, the current belief is that they will be in the 'security zone' of the Olympic park - they will then take patients to the outer cordon where we will take them to hospital. Now not wanting to give anyone any ideas, but I would have thought that it would be easier for terrorists to infiltrate St John ambulance than the LAS - that and we aren't recruiting people anymore. I'm sure we'll have plenty of our management involved though.

---

Today was going to be my 'writing and answering emails' day, the plan was to sneak around my mum's place and work on my laptop while she tops me up with cups of tea. Instead she has been on day 20 of her campaign of 'cleaning out the loft'. Loads of old computers, computer magazines, toys, books and cameras have had me looking up beauties like this, this and this on the internet. Because of this I have been prevaricating like an expert.

But I promise - all my emails will be answered by midnight tomorrow, (so if you haven't got a reply and expect one then it's probably gone astray).

Still, I have got my revenge on my mum with this picture. She nearly died with laughter after I told her what it was really a picture of... Is it any wonder I'm an atheist?

At midnight tonight I will have completed my year and a day abstention of alcohol; successfully at that! I shall be celebrating with a can of John Smiths and the company of some friends of mine.

Also for some reason I signed up for Facebook, I don't know why - perhaps my next step will be a MySpace Livejournal page... (I have a Myspace account that I forgot about)

UPDATE: Mum's just shown me a butter knife that she found in the loft (and is using at the moment) that was blown out of their house when a WWII bomb dropped on their street - she later found it buried in the garden while digging as a child. You couldn't pay for this sort of history.

I've just seen Tonight With Trevor McDonald.

Hmmm.

The programme does give the impression that if you get a Paramedic then you are guaranteed to survive, while if you get an EMT then you just have a 'stretcher monkey' and. will. DIE.

It also confuses 'Heart attack' and 'Cardiac arrest' and I believe that there is research that you are more likely to survive a cardiac arrest if you are attended to by a double technician crew.

You have read my blog, you know the truth.

The problem is this - it's down to the money that the government gives us (or rather doesn't). If we had enough money then we would have paramedics all over the place, an ambulance on every street corner. Hell, give us enough money and we'll see about getting a doctor on every ambulance. There is a limit to how much money you can throw at an ambulance service.

But...

We don't have enough money to provide the service that the government wants. It wants us to reach calls in under 8 minutes, so we split ambulance crews to put them on cars. We can't afford to train people up to Paramedic (because where are the wages going to come from?). We can't spare the people off the road to train them up, we need them manning ambulances now. Because of our chasing of (pointless) government targets the people who would train paramedics are being used to man FRUs and ambulances.

A friend of mine has been given the go ahead to train up to paramedic. His course starts in April next year.

Ah damn it - you've heard it all before, pointless targets, not enough money, raised expectations; just search this site for whenever I mention the word 'Government' to read my views about it.

The real problem is that there isn't enough ambulances and ambulance staff and those that we do have are run ragged dealing with crap calls.

The LAS has released a Press statement.

There are a number of issues that we would like to clarify following the broadcast of last night’s Tonight with Trevor McDonald ‘Paramedic Lottery’ programme.

Director of Operations, Martin Flaherty, said:

“Reference was made to London having a smaller percentage of paramedics among frontline staff than any other ambulance service.

“Firstly, our ratio is actually higher than the 34 per cent quoted in the programme when account is taken of our training staff and other managers with paramedic skills who also respond to emergency calls. Equally importantly, the figure itself is quite misleading, as we know that in the last six weeks we have had a paramedic working on an average of 60 per cent of our ambulances and 50 per cent of our fast response cars.

“We also believe that the programme downplayed the role of our emergency medical technicians and did not fully explain the extent of their training and skills, which enable them to provide life-saving treatment in the majority of medical and traumatic emergencies.

“As far as the tragic case of Kayleigh Macilwraith-Christie is concerned, we carried out a full investigation into our response to her and shared our findings with her family. We have always recognised that she could have benefited from treatment by a paramedic, although there is no way of knowing if this could have helped save her life.

“An ambulance with a paramedic on board was originally dispatched to the call, but the crew came across a serious road traffic collision and stopped to assist. A second ambulance was subsequently sent to attend Kayleigh, but this did not have a paramedic on it.

“We have since reviewed our response protocols for patients reported to be suffering a prolonged epileptic seizure or series of seizures, and have put in place procedures to ensure that control room staff will always look to send a paramedic to the relatively small number of calls we receive to these patients every year.

“We are also continuing to discuss with various bodies the possibility of emergency medical technicians being able to administer anti-convulsant drugs in the future.

“Every year our service responds to more than 300,000 emergency calls which are categorised as being potentially life-threatening, and the increased survival rates of patients who suffer cardiac arrests – doubled in the last eight years – is testament to the skills of all our frontline staff.

“We will continue to strive to improve the care we provide to all our patients, aiming to ensure that they get the most appropriate response for their needs.”

Ends

Background information:

* For the future – and in partnership with our staff’s union representatives – we are looking to review the make-up of our workforce, and this will include a significant increase in the number of paramedics.

We currently employ more than 1,000 paramedics, and by March next year this figure will increase to about 1,200. By 2012/13 we envisage we will employ in the region of 1,900 paramedics.

With their enhanced paramedic skills, more of our staff will be able to diagnose and treat patients with a wider range of conditions and, instead of taking them to hospital, will ensure they get more appropriate care for their needs - either at home, through a referral to their GP or social services, or at minor injuries units or NHS Walk-in centres.

* Trainee emergency medical technicians undertake a 16-week training course. This includes a one week induction, followed by a three-week advanced driving module, then 12-weeks’ intensive training and education in the following areas:
o airway management and resuscitation including the use of airway adjuncts
o treating wounds and bleeding
o treating infectious diseases
o respiratory and circulatory systems including cardiac care, asthma, chest injuries and drowning
o musculoskeletal trauma such as broken bones
o maternity and neo-natal resuscitation
o paediatric care
o nervous systems and nervous disorders such as epilepsy
o poisoning
o diabetes
o digestive problems
o dealing with casualties at major incidents
o care of the elderly
o care of mental health patients

They then go on to undertake a minimum of five weeks' operational training, working as part of a crew attending emergency calls. Throughout this period they are accompanied by an experienced member of staff who supervises them and monitors their progress.

Emergency medical technicians are legally able to administer a wide range of drugs to treat conditions such as asthma, diabetes, severe allergic reaction, drug (opiate) overdose, certain cardiac conditions and are able to give basic analgesic and oxygen gases.

They are also trained in 12-lead ECG acquisition and interpretation, enabling them to make key decisions about the care and treatment of cardiac patients.

Not much time to write at the moment - so here are some links.

Are you interested in the inside story of some national news, how about because it involves a friend of mine?

Scoble tells us that the first he knew about the Mexican earthquake was via Twitter. That's one of the reasons why I twitter about people getting killed on my patch.

There is a survey that highlights the dumbing down of the NHS. This is what NHS bloggers have been screaming about for ages.

Here is so good, and possibly interesting, news.

I've sold the TV option to my book to Daybreak - Mentorn. This means that they can shop around the TV channels and try to persuade them that a TV series based on my book would be a good idea. The chances of this happening are incredibly slim, but one lives in hope.

But, I hear you ask, how does this tie in with the fact that my book and blog are under a Creative Commons license - surely anyone can film something based around my writing? This is true, the license that I use means that people may make derivative works, as long as it is not for profit.

By selling the option to make a 'for profit' TV programme I'm not removing any of the Creative Commons license. This is another great thing about a CC license, it doesn't remove any ability to sell my own work or stop me from letting people use my work for profit reasons.

So I'd like to thank Mentorn for accepting that the book is under a Creative Commons license and that they won't go suing people who make non-profit films.

And now I sit here with my fingers crossed.

Oh yes, and I also have a publisher in America as well - so there should be an American version of Blood, Sweat and Tea coming out later this year. I obviously hope that they want to fly me out there to do publicity. They also appreciate the CC license - more news on this later. And there may be a BBC Radio thing coming up - which would be fun.