posted January 11, 2007 12:08 PM
So, now the grubby little Marxists in the United States Congress want to give America a Marxist health care plan....again.Hillary tried that once before..with secret meetings of Marxists who wanted to force a radical health care plan on America which would have nationalized about 15% of the US economy and put it in the hands of government bureaucrats...and out of the hands of real doctors.
One only need look north of our border to see how the Marxist health care plans work in the real world. You can actually die waiting to even be seen by a doctor and that's not to be seen by a specialist in whatever disease you happen to have.
Now, there is talk by marxists bureaucrats who want to limit, restrict or withhold treatment altogether for heart conditions, lung conditions because someone smoked. It matters not that those individuals paid into the health care system all their lives.
What other deniel of medical services do these radical marxist bureaucrats have waiting in the wings?
Within this same Marxist health care system, there are people waiting months...sometimes 6 months or more for medical services you could get in America tomorrow.
Health care and deniel of health services used to shape a social agenda is not health care at all and violates every tenet of medicine.
This is a story about people who died...waiting for an ambulance to take them to the hospital. They died because the ambulance crews were on lunch break and couldn't be disturbed. More rules by marxist bureaucrats. Rules which kill people.
Second man dies as 999 crews take break
10.01.07
Ambulance crews say enforced breaks are not practical.
The row over ambulance crews being forced to take breaks deepened today as it emerged that a second man died after a long wait to be taken to hospital.
The 21-year-old, who has not been named, had to wait 14 minutes for an ambulance, even though two other crews were much closer.
He was declared dead on arrival at hospital after suffering a cardiac arrest following a drugs overdose.
It is unclear whether he could have been saved if help had arrived more rapidly at the emergency in Tottenham but ambulance service sources said he would at least have had time to receive potentially life-saving treatment in the hospital.
EU working hours rules and a new NHS pay scheme mean that during a 12-hour shift London paramedics and ambulance technicians must be given a break in which they cannot be sent on 999 calls.
A 73-year-old man died in Edmonton on New Year's Eve after waiting 30 minutes for an ambulance when two crews were on a break five minutes away.
The 21-year-old was attended to within five minutes by a single paramedic in a car after collapsing on 21 December.
It took 14 minutes for an ambulance to arrive to take him to hospital. As both available units in Tottenham were on breaks, the nearest working crew had to be summoned from King's Cross.
This latest case emerged as controversial new guidance was issued to managers saying paramedics working at the same station should be given breaks simultaneously, despite the potential delays.
One ambulance worker, who asked not to be named, said: "It has caused nothing but problems since it was introduced. Staff deserve a break but we have not got enough crews to make sure we maintain cover and get to calls.
"If crews do not get a break they can go home early - in one area on Christmas Day we had 11 out of 16 crews leave half an hour early because they had not been able to get a break. It meant there were only five ambulances available for calls between 6.30am and 7am on Boxing Day."
Ambulance crews should be given a 45-minute break roughly half way through their shift. During the first 30 minutes they cannot be disturbed at all but in the final 15 minutes they can be sent on the most urgent 999 calls if they are the nearest crew. If this happens, the crew receive £10 each.
The London Ambulance Service's director of operations, Russell Smith, said: "Staff working 12-hour shifts should not be expected to work through without a break and we try to do all we can to ensure that these needs are balanced with those of demand on the 999 service."
Of the policy of putting more than one crew on a break at the same time in the same area, Mr Smith said: "There are occasions when more than one local ambulance crew is put on a break at a time. This is necessary to ensure all staff get a break during their long, demanding shifts.
"Cover is provided by other onduty staff, either from the same station or a neighbouring station, and our control room is responsible for sending the nearest resource to any calls that are received.
"If staff are not allocated a break, this unpaid time is given at the end of their shift, meaning they can leave early. It is important that we do our best to allocate breaks during shifts to avoid large numbers of staff finishing early."
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23381197-details/Second+man+dies+as+999+crews+take+break/article.do
Lindaland
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posted January 11, 2007 12:08 PM
posted January 11, 2007 01:37 PM
