Saw someone post this on facebook today.
Now I don’t want to take anything away from ambulance drivers as they do a very hard and essential job, but it says we can only drive 9 or 10 hours a day whereas paramedics work a 12 or 13 hour shift.
I think some ambulance teams probably do end up sitting around a lot during their shift but with all the cuts they’ve had some are stretched to breaking point.
My local hospital in Ipswich can barely cope. Mainly because people who don’t need to be in bloody A&E turn up with a cut or a bruise, and the same for ambulances. People round here call one out for anything.
Yes, there are some “minor” things where an ambulance is a safer option, especially if a child or elderly person has had a fall or a nasty knock but it seems that many people round here call one out so it looks better on their compensation claim when they can say they were taken to A&E by ambulance.
If you read it again it says truck drivers have laws to protect them from working excess hours with out taking a break & as you know there are limits on the working day. As an ambulance “driver”, which by the way is only a part of the job,they can actually work 12 hours plus a day. Part of my job involves being an ambulance “driver” amongst other things & we quite often work 14-15 hour shifts. Not because we want to but because we usually have to. Factor in to that the fact that one of the crew will be driving after them 15 hours then it’s dangerous. They will quite often go without a break for 10 hours. That’s more than most people’s working day! Would you want me looking after your loved one at the end of a 14 hour day & then drive them at speed to hospital? Probably not. Then factor into this that I am on less money working on an ambulance than I ever was driving a truck.
The point the post is trying to make is that “ambulance drivers” or Paramedics, are being worked to breaking point & some time soon something serious will happen & people will die.
OK my bad. Like I said, I didn’t want to take anything away from paramedics. It’s just the wording seemed to suggest lorry drivers can only work a 10 hour day max and it seemed unnecassary to compare the two.
Could the ad be ‘adjusted’ then stuffed into the face of RDC’s etc…■■
To try and make them ‘see’ that many / all drivers are ‘against the clock’?
You’re delivery drivers, not mobile warehouses that can be messed around etc…?
Sister’s a paramedic, so can see your point too though… 
This was in no way a dig at you Ched & if it came across like that then I apologise completely.
It’s the same everywhere, we are all being shafted one way or another.
When watching one of those classic daytime emergency shows on TV I never knew the hours paramedics do. Fair play they have to do alot more thinking then us at the end of a shift potentially when all we think about is where to park up.
according to a programme on the radio the other day handing the patient over at a lot of hospitals can easily take 3 or 4 hours on a good day
I don’t quite see the point in the picture? Whats the thinking behind it?
Is there some kind of comparison being made, it’s a bit like comparing a apple to a orange if you ask me.
define ambulance shift…sitting around most of the day…a small bit of driving and tending,then sitting around tipping the 1st load waiting on the next one…hardly breaking sweat.for the same reason as plod,then itl be the wifey mostly driving the van and for the dudes,then they most likely get as much snooker/darts practice as firemen…i wouldnt want their job for a pension,same as i wouldnt be a farmer or surgeon,i couldnt handle the blood,nor the smell of pishy wiff and vick from the wrinklies,and as i like animals,id have all the beasts indoors etc,but i wouldnt think it was exactly an effort to get through the shift.
Overtook a few with a 7 1/2t a few times on the twisty’s no joke blues n 2s 
dieseldog999:
define ambulance shift…sitting around most of the day…a small bit of driving and tending,then sitting around tipping the 1st load waiting on the next one…hardly breaking sweat.for the same reason as plod,then itl be the wifey mostly driving the van and for the dudes,then they most likely get as much snooker/darts practice as firemen…i wouldnt want their job for a pension,same as i wouldnt be a farmer or surgeon,i couldnt handle the blood,nor the smell of pishy wiff and vick from the wrinklies,and as i like animals,id have all the beasts indoors etc,but i wouldnt think it was exactly an effort to get through the shift.
as an ex ambulance technician its a very stressful job,not knowing what your next call will be .one min a child that has died to the next job a birth the list goes on and on you have to be switched on all of the time and more .there isn’t that much sitting around nowadays as ambulance crews are stretched to the limit ,some areas of the country not coping well at all,as for nhs pensions not bad at all.
would you like an ambulance crew who had 2 mins to the end of there shift who then get a call to attend an emergency who by the way hadn’t had a proper break in there shift to attend .I certainly wouldn’t
as for the pishy wiff and vick from the wrinklies you tend to get on with your colleague that you are working with
Wording is indeed biased, Ched. As said, the feeble attempt at comparison misses the mark by a country mile. Conveniently, no mention of the daily/weekly rest reduction exceptions which are so enthusiastically exploited by so many transport outfits.
Ambulance and paramedic crews have my utmost support and respect, but that poster/leaflet/whatever - is lame and half-baked.
My local ambulance station has been bulldozed to make way for a Sainsbury’s. There is now just a lay-by for an ambulance crew to park in. Other crews have to park in a cul-de-sac off a large roundabout so that they are near to the motorway. The local ambulance control centre is to close with the work being allocated from a centralised office many miles away, thus losing knowledge of local geography. ie I am outside The Bull means SFA to someone 30 miles away.
A guy i knew years ago was a paramedic, was in Banbury or somewhere down that neck of the woods, he was amazing at pool, he said he did have a lot of time to practice mostly dealt with RTA’s and heart attacks. He was bored with it and moved to North London completely the opposite, never stopped always something happening, very stressful. He said it was a bit like the film “Bringing out the dead”.
So i guess it really depends where abouts in the country you are situated, this was about 15 years ago so i’d imagine with cuts much less quiet time these days everywhere.
Can imagine there is loads of problems with paramedic jobs these days, but the advert is stupid. Can’t really compare an emergency service with delivering goods for commercial companies. Its like comparing a fighter pilot and a easyjet pilot.
Looks like a ■■■■ poor apples to oranges comparison.
We all know Ambulance staff do a great job and face scenes most of us couldn’t stomache on a regular basis and thats without the long term emotional stress of it all. For this anyone who chooses this profession has my utmost respect.
WTD vs Driver hours argument.
In a 12-13 hour shift on an ambulance, you’ll fit in what breaks you can, but they won’t be shown, since you don’t use a tacho to record those hours.
There’s only the aspect that a 12-13 hour shift has been worked.
Look over then at a truck driver - They might be working a 15 hour shift, but in order to “get more hours in” they’ll POA away some of that on their tacho, which gives the impression (true or not) that “no more than 9 hours a day is spent actually driving, raisable to 10 hours twice a week”.
Therefore, the roads might well be full of amulance drivers working a 4 day week (4x12 with a 1 hour break) but truck drivers will only get PAID for the same hourage week, but will in some cases be working a lot more hours… 15+15+15+13+13+13 one week followed by 15+15+15+13+13 week two will only be shown as perhaps a “48 hour driving week” because of all the waiting, POA, and other downtime where you are on-shift with your vehicle, and perhaps not even getting paid. 
Personally, I’d love to work a full time job that’s 4x13 hours per week for a decent salary that takes into account that I’ll be working overnight, weekends, sundays, & bank holidays on rotation.
I don’t have a problem with “rotation of shifts over a week” - never did. It’s being bounced around days/earlies/nights that I found to be the killer. I’d rather just stick to 5pm-6am 4 days on 4 days off pattern, and I’ll be as happy as a quartz particulate male youth. 
Meanwhile, it’s time I wasn’t here… On shift in less than an hour’s time.