As part of my training I have a placement with what is know as Planned Care or Patient Transport Service. These are the mini buses you might see driving old ladies in and out of hospitals, taking people in for dialysis and generally being a taxi for the sick and needy as well as plain fucking lazy.
The shifts tend to be 9 hours with plenty of down time and tea breaks. The crews wear the same uniform as A/E crews and many have the arrogant swagger of the front line services.
It is at the uniform that the similarities end. In its wisdom, the ambulance service does not train these crews with anything other than the most basic first aid and CPR and they are instilled with an "If in trouble, DIAL 999" attitude.
When they pick up patients they do not receive or ask for a proper hand over. They moan about paper work that is less detailed than most people's name tags.
The next time you're in a hospital and you see a man in green, think twice before you wander up and thank him for doing such a selfless job helping the world, because if he has time to hang around hospitals he ain't A/E.
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