"...since we're just as busy as the nursing staff why should we be doing it? After all the patient is now the hospitals patient..." Maybe because the patient has deteriorated en route, and/or doesn't want to have to list every last symptom again because they feel, well, VERY ILL? "...and I can't help feeling that by booking in all we are doing is re-inforcing the idea that you get special treatment in A&E if you go there by ambulance." Well, SHOULDN'T you? I mean, if I can walk or otherwise move myself into A&E, that is generally going to mean I'm in better shape than some poor bugger who can just about manage to dial 999 from home, or whose family are freaking out so much they dial an ambulance. I'm not trying to have a go, but with respect, I don't follow your logic here, at all.