I remember my first time in an ambulance when I had a bad asthma attack at 6 years old. I literally couldn't breathe and all my ambulance people could do was carry me to the ambulance and give me oxygen (which didn't do anything cos I couldn't breathe) years later when I had another bad asthma attack in the 1990s the paramedics worked on me and gave me lots of treatment before they put me in the ambulance. Such a massive difference in just a few years x
This is from the days when BBC programmes were WORTH watching and a reminder of the days when the LAS was under the South West Thames RHA. At one time, I wanted to work on the ambulances but it's one of those jobs where you have to forget what you've seen and not let it affect you. Plus, it's not a job for the squeamish. If you ask me, those who work on the ambulances need fucking danger money!
I am amazed I have not seen this before, a remarkable piece of history from a driving licence and a first aid certificate to a highly trained graduate paramedic service in 45 years. Well done to Dr Margaret Haig and Ted Cooke for their vision of the future. Also good to see Dr Ken Easton at work in North Yorkshire. The trained pre Hospital care doctor and a paramedic are a very skilled and powerful combination.
It's amazing the vast difference in equipment around the country back then - the NYCC crew, whilst 'Millar' trained like the LAS staff, had a smaller vehicle with far less equipment that was a throwback to decades earlier, bandages, blankets and splints the the Oxygen cylinder the most 'modern' kit, whilst the LAS had powered suction, Entonox, Scoop stretchers, etc.
They were literal _hearses_ in the US...run by privateers and staffed by untrained labourers - until EMS standardisation, anyway. In Thailand to this very day the 'ambulance' is a car or van that conveys you to hospital like a bag of cement if, _and only if,_ you can produce cash. They rifle through your pockets and if there's no cash they _leave you on the pavement._
That's a brilliant film. It reminds me of the base ethical values that I joined up to the service to uphold. But also, gives a fascinating insight into the ambulance service of the time, which was in transition . Absolutely brilliant film, thank you London Ambulance Service.
I was talking to a friend of mine whose father worked for the ambulance service in the late 1970's and through the 1980's (non essential passenger transport, transferring patients between hospitals for outpatient appoint/treatments etc) and I was interested in how the service had evolved, was the service 'better organised' and underpinned by stronger values then say in the 1990's when some of the non essential service was contracted out to private transport groups?
@@kailashpatel1706 It had a greater "military" style ethos I think...certainly the middle management thought of themselves as sergeants or colonels, and polished shoes with hats were highly regarded as a standard turn-out. There was plenty of cover for what was then the accepted standard of response, in London a few minutes only, and the Patient Transport Service was a useful nursery for new recruits and a pasture for burnt-out QAM's. I wouldn't know if it was better organised or not; certainly in this era they had years of experience to fine-tune the system and they had it working very well. Society has changed, though, and that shade of Service would not function today, any more than the 1970's Police would.
@@direktorpresident I think what should have happened post 1991 (the introduction of the NHS internal markets) was that the LAS and other Ambulance regional services should have been allowed to develop their own 24hr non essential passenger services..the development of the trust system was very damaging full stop to the NHS inc the impact on Ambulance work..
How Ironic to see a brand new Grenfell Tower (early in the film). I wonder how the Emergency services of that day would have dealt with such an incident. Notwithstanding that, the tower was not built with a flammable blanket.
What a blast from the past. I was at the old Fulham in 1975 with a certain John Oakden and did 1 O/T shift at North Ken. I thought Fulham was busy but North Ken was horrendous. Very fond memories.
Things have not change in society, violence, drugs, etc. We just have to carry on and rely on God to get through life. Bless the emergency services and police officers.
I'm sorry to say mate that the USA is so far behind Britain in everything except for the military. I only realised that in the last few years and take no joy from it whatsoever. America is finished and its just a matter of time before the collapse of the dollar then the west.
That's your perspective. There is American footage showing paramedics intubating and giving cardiac drugs as soon as 1970. Advanced life support techniques weren't introduced in a large scale in the British system until the mid 80s. To this day, American paramedics' scope of practice is less restrictive than British paramedics' scope of practice.
Local government managing their own ambulance services back then would have seen some vast differences in service from council to council. NHS controls Ambulance services these days so I expect things are more standardised.
Feel privilaged to have been born in the 90's back then all an ambulance was for was for taking people to hospital, being equipped with 2 men, 2 beds and a oxygen cylinder, now theyre mini medical centres packed with state of the art equipment to take care and treat people at the scene, only disadvantage being that theres only room for 1 patient compared to 2 back then
With the advent of self-loading stretchers, why can't we have one-man ambulances? No need for them to be Paramedics, just Drivers. Load the two patients in the back, and hey Presto...at the Hopsital
The Ferno-Washington! The Laedell Suction Unit! God bless everyone who persisted through this miasma, not because of financial recompense, but because it was the right job to do.
See my question is with all the ambulance services back then is why didnt they raise the stretcher when its kind of made to do that. Like it makes it easier on your back so your not bent over half of your shift. Like for christ sake they even did that in the tv series, Emergency, that 1970s show about firkin L.A paramedics and the Rampart (name of the hospital) ambulances. Like come on man
It was a disciplinary offence to transport the stretcher in the raised position...this put the CG very high and likely to tip over. The stretcher raised up at bedside to make the transfer lift easier.
Some of the stretchers didn’t elevate. The Ferno York 4 did, but the York 2 didn’t, for example; these were the most commonly used in UK. They weren’t designed to be rolled in the elevated position, unlike the ones used in ‘Emergency’.
And, a few practical considerations....the York series had telescopic "steering" handles which made it entirely comfortable to push/pull from a full standing posture....and with I.V. stands attached, the whole unit was compact and manageable without crashing into overhead equipment (as in MRI, Catscan units , well-equipped ER's etc). Of course, effective CPR was nigh impossible on a raised stretcher. For a conscious patient, being hoisted up and down on a trolley is to be minimised; it is not a comfortable feeling.
@@mistofoles Yes quite :-) (actually he was sweeping or mopping the floor). The major stations had to have some facility as they were manned 24/7. On the other hand, if you were in, say, Barnard Castle, your Ambulance crew would be flat out asleep at home in bed for your 3am emergency call; they would dress, go the the Station, get the Ambulance out, and head to your location. That's how it was.
@@mistofoles Yes, sometimes was. Response times were occasionally 20 minutes, in bad weather or if the call was ten miles away; and that was for our own "patch". When cover in nearby towns (say, Darlington or Bishop Auckland) was stretched....and they would sometimes have only one or two ambulances each...we had to respond to emergencies even further than that.
I remember my first time in an ambulance when I had a bad asthma attack at 6 years old. I literally couldn't breathe and all my ambulance people could do was carry me to the ambulance and give me oxygen (which didn't do anything cos I couldn't breathe) years later when I had another bad asthma attack in the 1990s the paramedics worked on me and gave me lots of treatment before they put me in the ambulance. Such a massive difference in just a few years x
This is from the days when BBC programmes were WORTH watching and a reminder of the days when the LAS was under the South West Thames RHA. At one time, I wanted to work on the ambulances but it's one of those jobs where you have to forget what you've seen and not let it affect you. Plus, it's not a job for the squeamish. If you ask me, those who work on the ambulances need fucking danger money!
Outstanding on so many levels! What a great piece of EMS history. Thank you for sharing this!
Still dialing 3 figures ❤
I am amazed I have not seen this before, a remarkable piece of history from a driving licence and a first aid certificate to a highly trained graduate paramedic service in 45 years. Well done to Dr Margaret Haig and Ted Cooke for their vision of the future. Also good to see Dr Ken Easton at work in North Yorkshire. The trained pre Hospital care doctor and a paramedic are a very skilled and powerful combination.
It's amazing the vast difference in equipment around the country back then - the NYCC crew, whilst 'Millar' trained like the LAS staff, had a smaller vehicle with far less equipment that was a throwback to decades earlier, bandages, blankets and splints the the Oxygen cylinder the most 'modern' kit, whilst the LAS had powered suction, Entonox, Scoop stretchers, etc.
Brings me back in time first ambulance I drove had an electric bell 1970 and two tones keep up the good work
Wow Dr Haigh remember her so well in my training in 77 in Waterloo.
man were they were advanced compared to other ambulance systems at the time!
They were literal _hearses_ in the US...run by privateers and staffed by untrained labourers - until EMS standardisation, anyway. In Thailand to this very day the 'ambulance' is a car or van that conveys you to hospital like a bag of cement if, _and only if,_ you can produce cash. They rifle through your pockets and if there's no cash they _leave you on the pavement._
The english, white english, were always first country for everything. The workshop to the world.
That's a brilliant film. It reminds me of the base ethical values that I joined up to the service to uphold.
But also, gives a fascinating insight into the ambulance service of the time, which was in transition .
Absolutely brilliant film, thank you London Ambulance Service.
I was talking to a friend of mine whose father worked for the ambulance service in the late 1970's and through the 1980's (non essential passenger transport, transferring patients between hospitals for outpatient appoint/treatments etc) and I was interested in how the service had evolved, was the service 'better organised' and underpinned by stronger values then say in the 1990's when some of the non essential service was contracted out to private transport groups?
@@kailashpatel1706 It had a greater "military" style ethos I think...certainly the middle management thought of themselves as sergeants or colonels, and polished shoes with hats were highly regarded as a standard turn-out. There was plenty of cover for what was then the accepted standard of response, in London a few minutes only, and the Patient Transport Service was a useful nursery for new recruits and a pasture for burnt-out QAM's. I wouldn't know if it was better organised or not; certainly in this era they had years of experience to fine-tune the system and they had it working very well. Society has changed, though, and that shade of Service would not function today, any more than the 1970's Police would.
@@direktorpresident I think what should have happened post 1991 (the introduction of the NHS internal markets) was that the LAS and other Ambulance regional services should have been allowed to develop their own 24hr non essential passenger services..the development of the trust system was very damaging full stop to the NHS inc the impact on Ambulance work..
How Ironic to see a brand new Grenfell Tower (early in the film). I wonder how the Emergency services of that day would have dealt with such an incident. Notwithstanding that, the tower was not built with a flammable blanket.
Gosh...Transport officers sure gold plated their service back then ...pops the silver top milk for her tablets and all that.
I was born in 1943 and I'm surprised to see how advanced they were over forty years' ago. A very interesting video
Great film. Can't believe I haven't seen that before.
What a blast from the past. I was at the old Fulham in 1975 with a certain John Oakden and did 1 O/T shift at North Ken. I thought Fulham was busy but North Ken was horrendous. Very fond memories.
So cool to watch … I’m born and raised in Thirsk
Things have not change in society, violence, drugs, etc. We just have to carry on and rely on God to get through life. Bless the emergency services and police officers.
As an American EMT, I am so shocked at how far ahead LAS was in 1974 compared to where the US is in 2016.
I'm sorry to say mate that the USA is so far behind Britain in everything except for the military. I only realised that in the last few years and take no joy from it whatsoever. America is finished and its just a matter of time before the collapse of the dollar then the west.
Sorry, can you explain that statement...You think London Ambulance Service is more efficient than its US counterparts today?
That's your perspective. There is American footage showing paramedics intubating and giving cardiac drugs as soon as 1970. Advanced life support techniques weren't introduced in a large scale in the British system until the mid 80s. To this day, American paramedics' scope of practice is less restrictive than British paramedics' scope of practice.
No it isn't.
Ireland's pre-hospital care is still behind US & UK standards but we are catching up
This is such a great video....
Local government managing their own ambulance services back then would have seen some vast differences in service from council to council. NHS controls Ambulance services these days so I expect things are more standardised.
Feel privilaged to have been born in the 90's back then all an ambulance was for was for taking people to hospital, being equipped with 2 men, 2 beds and a oxygen cylinder, now theyre mini medical centres packed with state of the art equipment to take care and treat people at the scene, only disadvantage being that theres only room for 1 patient compared to 2 back then
With the advent of self-loading stretchers, why can't we have one-man ambulances? No need for them to be Paramedics, just Drivers. Load the two patients in the back, and hey Presto...at the Hopsital
The modern paramedic was born in the early 90s what are you talking about. Early 90s they had defibs with other advanced kit.
The Ferno-Washington! The Laedell Suction Unit! God bless everyone who persisted through this miasma, not because of financial recompense, but because it was the right job to do.
Laerdal suction
@@rapman5363 Phew! Thank you Rapman! I missed an "r" out there.
Hems in London is pioneering, all the way back then.
just the way the guy so calmly said. "can we have an ambulance please"
instead to the blind panic you might expect
Masters of control in the face of calamity. That is the Anglo saxons.
Brilliant video.
What a difference 46 years make
See really good to wch on here
Keep up the good work on UA-cam
I thought the patient was going to be offered a coffee at the five minute mark. A bit unnecessary I thought, along with the hats.
Hi see a relly good video too which on UA-cam I hop are u ok there keep up there good work on UA-cam
U do a rally good job on her keep up there good work on here mate how are u ok
The old red interior
"They'll think I'm a fairy", fucking hell. Well, it was 1974.
💜💜💜.
See good video there
See my question is with all the ambulance services back then is why didnt they raise the stretcher when its kind of made to do that. Like it makes it easier on your back so your not bent over half of your shift. Like for christ sake they even did that in the tv series, Emergency, that 1970s show about firkin L.A paramedics and the Rampart (name of the hospital) ambulances. Like come on man
It was a disciplinary offence to transport the stretcher in the raised position...this put the CG very high and likely to tip over. The stretcher raised up at bedside to make the transfer lift easier.
@@direktorpresident well yeah.......
Some of the stretchers didn’t elevate. The Ferno York 4 did, but the York 2 didn’t, for example; these were the most commonly used in UK. They weren’t designed to be rolled in the elevated position, unlike the ones used in ‘Emergency’.
And, a few practical considerations....the York series had telescopic "steering" handles which made it entirely comfortable to push/pull from a full standing posture....and with I.V. stands attached, the whole unit was compact and manageable without crashing into overhead equipment (as in MRI, Catscan units , well-equipped ER's etc). Of course, effective CPR was nigh impossible on a raised stretcher. For a conscious patient, being hoisted up and down on a trolley is to be minimised; it is not a comfortable feeling.
Pip Pip Cheerio
Bob’s your Uncle
I don't mean to sound insensitive, but were all these incidents genuine?
The reporter states at the beginning that all the incidents were genuine, it's up to you whether you think that's true.
Yes, they were.
And a few more besides which they could not show! People under trains, hanging for three weeks, etc etc
Is this BBC material? Yes it is BBC Material.
Curious to know where the 2 crew members are now ?
here in germany we use the 2 crews ^^
Probably retired.
Dead
Bro In The U.S.A. We Have Firefighter's & E.M.T.'s & Paramedic's
Fire Service & Ambulance Service are entirely separate in the U.K.
>EMERGENCY PHONE RINGS< "Hang on one minute, can't you ? I'm lining up to pot the black !"
The Emergency Phone was in the Smoking Lounge, not the Snooker Room
@@direktorpresident What I am saying is, the guy at the start of the clip was playing snooker/pool when the emergency phone rang :D
@@mistofoles Yes quite :-) (actually he was sweeping or mopping the floor). The major stations had to have some facility as they were manned 24/7. On the other hand, if you were in, say, Barnard Castle, your Ambulance crew would be flat out asleep at home in bed for your 3am emergency call; they would dress, go the the Station, get the Ambulance out, and head to your location. That's how it was.
@@direktorpresident DF ?? It wouldn't be your fault, but the patient could be dead by the time you'd woken, dressed, and got out there !
@@mistofoles Yes, sometimes was. Response times were occasionally 20 minutes, in bad weather or if the call was ten miles away; and that was for our own "patch". When cover in nearby towns (say, Darlington or Bishop Auckland) was stretched....and they would sometimes have only one or two ambulances each...we had to respond to emergencies even further than that.
Where are all the muslims?
Glorified taxi drivers. Like the narrator said, luck and location had a lot to do with survival outcomes.
The comparison to today's EMS is incredible!
26 pounds a week in 1974! Seems a bit low?
My first summer job in 1980, at 16, I made $165 a week.
I felt rich! Let me tell you!