Fourteen jobs.

Ten of those jobs involved people who were drunk and/or homeless.

I was told by one of them to ‘fuck off’ as he was sleeping in the street, and people thought he was dead.  I got called back to him once, and another crew got called to him a third time before he finally decided to let them take him to hospital.  The (drunk) man who called me out first threatened to write a complaint to my boss if I didn’t take the ‘patient’ to hospital.

In a very professional and polite manner I told him to go away.

I have no problem with the homeless, but most of the homeless I meet are either alcoholic or drug addicts.  Part of the problem with working for the health service is you only see the sick people, so it sometimes leads to a skewed view of reality.

There is a big homeless shelter in our area being run this year, which means that the number of alcoholics in Newham has suddenly increased, although I wonder why we can’t get accommodation for them the whole year round (for those that want it of course, I’ve met some homeless who just like sleeping rough).

So a busy day, full of asking people to clarify what they consider to be ‘only a little’ bit of drinking.