** Startling jump in mental health emergencies in London, UK
** California firefighters in San Diego complain of slow EMS response times
UNITED KINGDOM NEWS
** London Ambulance Service medics are apparently seeing a huge jump in the number of help hails
for mental health emergencies. That is the word from This is London (James Caven/October 10)
which said the area of Barnet alone has noted a 24 per cent increase from 2012 to 2015. According
to the newspaper, from April 2012 to April 2013, there were 4591 such calls, while from April 2014
to April 2015 there were 5,714. Across the whole of London itself, the same three year period saw a
bump up of more than 18,000 calls. Service Deputy Director of Nursing and Quality Briony Sloper
said attempts are being made to discern the best way to deal with such patients. Sloper said
4 specialist mental health nurses work with dispatchers in control rooms to ensure proper resources
are made available to callers.
UNITED STATES NEWS
** Firefighters in San Diego, California are complaining about EMS response times, saying fire
engines are being forced to transport patients to hospitals because ambulances are not available.
The San Diego Union Tribune (Jeff McDonald/October 10) quoted fire union president Allan
Arollado as saying three recent instances occurred with both sick and dying patients. According to
the newspaper, Arollado said firefighters are routinely waiting 20 – 30 minutes for Rural Metro
EMS units to arrive at calls. Response time stats, however, can not be used to verify the complaint,
since the timer starts from the moment any emergency vehicle, fire truck or ambulance, arrives on-
scene. Rural/Metro spokesman Thomas Milton said minor delays were due to a 7 per cent call volume
hike in the past year. He said staff numbers are adequate to the task, though not all medics are on
the rigs as of yet due to a 45 day period for new practitioners to acquire their county certifications.
