Unfortunately Tom, this seems to be a national and international trend with regard to politeness, now I could bang on about moral fibre etc etc but it would do no good I am afraid. There are sections of society who just do not have the "polite gene" and unfortunately it is an increasing segment. I am not going to try and solve the problem as there is little or no point, I am just going to continue in the way that I was taught by my parents, treat others as you wish to be treated yourself. It works for me, and if I come across a rude patient, health care practitioner or anyone for that matter, I continue to be as polite as I possibly can, if not more so. I then add at the end of anything that I say that it is possible to be polite, I have proven that by what I have just said/done. It usually makes them a little embarrassed, sometimes it works other times it flies right over their heads. As for the way in which homes and units continue to use and abuse the ambulance service, I am very sorry to add that that won't change much either, I echo earlier sentiments that its not always a true picture of the unit/home, but unfortunately its the picture that the incompetents are painting. We have several in our area that we attend to, most of the calls are non-urgent but they want to get them out of the unit so they don't have to bother with them. No matter how many times I explain to them that it would be advantageous to all concerned if someone where to greet the FRVs/crews at the front door, so that we didn't have to stand outside for 10 minutes, it just seems to go in one ear, out the other side and settle down nicely in the wall paper on the other side of the room....... Hey ho