Wasting Peoples’ Time

The job sprung to life on the MDT – “Red 2 – Male, Unresponsive”.

This could be anything!  Could be someone in a cardiac arrest!  Fallen from height!  RTC!  Overdose!  Stabbed!  Shot!  The endless possibilities were mind bogglingly exciting!

I checked the address . . . “Route 245*, Such-and-such Road”.

Ah, I see.  It’ll be a bloke asleep on a bus then . . .

. . . would this be a Major Incident then?

I arrived to find the bus parked up by the bus stop with the driver standing outside.

I’ve grown tired of showing anger toward these jobs.  It’s pointless getting stressed over something that, to all intents and purposes, is never going to change.  So, strolling over to the driver I sighed my resolve.

“Where is he then?”

“Just there,”  the driver motioned at the patient just inside.  “He’s completely unresponsive”

“Oh?”  my eyebrows raised but my eyes remained glazed over, “have you tried to wake him then?”

“Well, I’ve not touched him no”

I walked up to my patient.
He was – (surprise surprise) – asleep.
I woke him.
He woke.
I smiled.
He got up and left.

I opened my arms out either side and closed my eyes, imagining crowds of people cheering at my miraculous deeds and healing powers.  Sadly I was snapped back into reality by what the driver said to the patient as he walked off the bus . . .

“You should feel ashamed of yourself for wasting people’s time!”

My dreamlike fantasy vanished and my glazed expression returned.  I took a deep breath, gave the driver a long hard look of contempt and walked back to my car.

As I say, it’s not worth getting stressed over.

Binder

*not the real Bus Route number of course

One thought on “Wasting Peoples’ Time

  1. Pity you can’t start invoicing the bus company, they’d soon change their procedure if they realised how much it costs for an ambulance or response car with a fully trained crew costs.

    Of course the next step would be invoicing drunks and other time wasters. Might get some feathers ruffled but at least then the hospitals could deal with real health issues rather than things like “drank too much, needs somewhere to lay down”.

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