In reply to SAF:
> Well done for trying to take on a difficult subject.
Thanks. However I am hanging off the coat-tales of the actual chaps championing the cause.
> My advice/ criticism would be that I didn't feel that the two guys featured where particularly representative of myself or most of my colleagues. Average starting age round where I work I would think is about 25-30 (so with prior life experience) and most staff have been in post for 10 to 25 years (a lot more time to become demoralised and a lot more exposure to incidents).
You're quite right about the age thing and next week I will have a couple of old-timers willing to go on camera. Who knows how that will turn out, hopefully useful and helpful.
> Also the video primarily focused on the impact of "Nasty" jobs and PTSD on Ambulance staff, whereas my feeling is that it is the day to day management bullsh*t, unrealistic public/patient expectations, and year-on-year grind of shifts work that have the greatest impact on mental health long term. Could these issues be addressed somehow.
You're leaning against an open door here.
> From a personal point of view, in January/ february I had about a 6 to 7 week period without finishing a single shift on time, fighting of colds/ flu left right and centre, I then went to a RTC where we had 3 time critical patients (one died as I was trying to cannulate her whilst still trapped in the car, another died a month later and the third survived. It was cold, one of the patients was ejected into a boggy wet field, and so I was soaking wet through my trousers, and by the time we had got the two patients Anesthetised/ ventilated and off scene two hours had gone by and it was getting dark, and even colder. I went home cold, damp, covered in mud, exhausted, totally disillusioned, and LATE again. The next week when I got a cold that I would normally work through I just couldn't get up to go to work, for a few days I seriously contemplated quitting.
Before the advent of 111, we had time to decompress. But after the introduction, about three years ago, of 111, it was like a light switch being turned on where everybody went from a tolerable pace of life to full-on relentless working. Now it is the norm to do 7-8 hours before getting a chance to eat. And from waking up at 06-00 hours to eating at 14-00hrs or later does put a physical toll on us all.
And yes, its a pisser always having to finish way beyond end of shift. But that's probably why we are paid the big bucks.
And as for going off sick, there's always the First Stage and Second Stage sickness hearings waiting on your return. Surely that's got to motivate you ?
But then I worked behind a desk for 13 years, and found that considerably more stressful than my life on the road. All I ask is that I am fed and watered at a reasonable time and not one where most office workers have put in a full day's work and gone home before getting.
Seriously though, I really appreciate your comments and advice for my next couple of projects.