I would be interested to know your view(s) on my recent ambulance ride. I had a cough for well over a month, went to the doctor one morning after seeing fresh blood mixed in with the sputum and was given antibiotics for a supposed throat infection. Doctor advised me to go to A&E if I there was more. Same evening, I start to cough up frank blood and tell someone else in the house I think I need to go to A&E. Being a faithful reader of your blog, I did NOT tell them I needed an ambulance, but they called one, understandably enough. I was a bit too busy transferring blood from my lungs to the bathroom sink to have any input on the call. Ambulance came, very nice men took me to A&E and gave me strict instructions to make sure that I got blood tests and an x-ray and not to let them dismiss me as a healthy young woman. Triage nurse classed me as amber based on obs and history, I had my x-ray and turned out to have TB. Yes, the ambulance crew and hospital took me seriously, and yes, I did turn out to be ill enough for a stay in hospital. However, my haemophysis was not life-threatening, even if it was scary, and there was a car available, which someone else in the house followed the ambulance with to the hospital. So... should they have called 999?