Monday 17 August 2009

Adding insult to injury ...

"We are pleased that both Ms Blake and her daughter are well and healthy." said a spokesman for Leicester Royal Infirmary, who refused to send an ambluance when Ms Blake went into labour, as a result of which she gave birth on the pavement in front of the hospital, having had to walk there.

11 comments:

John B said...

She lives *100 metres from the hospital*. Sending an ambulance would've been absurd, particularly since it'd've taken longer for them to dispatch it than it would've taken her to walk there...

Mark Wadsworth said...

Bloody Hell, John, I wasn't commenting on the merits of the case itself, just the sheer cynicism of the spokesman. Your comment was even more insulting, from Ms Blake's point of view.

dearieme said...

100 metres? They could have wheeled a trolley round. Except for Elf n Safety, I suppose.

JuliaM said...

Surely the point was she tried to walk there and went into labour on the pavement?

So perhaps that ambulance would've been a good idea after all?

Anonymous said...

John B - have you tried walking anywhere while in labour?

Leg-iron said...

All these women going into labour... I wish they'd stop.

Vote for some one else, ladies.

John B said...

No, what I'm saying is that if they'd sent an ambulance, she'd've given birth on her own in the house, which wouldn't have been any better.

JuliaM said...

"John B - have you tried walking anywhere while in labour?"

He usually manages a recto-cranial inversion whenever he comments, which must be equally as painful...

"...what I'm saying is that if they'd sent an ambulance, she'd've given birth on her own in the house, which wouldn't have been any better."

I guess you don't believe the official ambulance response times, then?

Mark Wadsworth said...

John B, I'm glad I pencilled you in as Trade Minister and nothing to do with diplomacy or tact!

The correct response would have been to grovel unreservedly and give her a bunch of flowers and £500 in Mothercare vouchers (which no doubt Mothercare would hand over for less than face value because of the free publicity) as a goodwill gesture.

Ambulance response times are not necessarily "the envy of the world"(TM), so in future, they ought to make sure there is a procedure to round up two or three abled-bodied people who can sprint up the road with a wheelchair at a minute's notice. (as Dearieme suggests).

John B said...

The correct response would have been to grovel unreservedly and give her a bunch of flowers and £500 in Mothercare vouchers (which no doubt Mothercare would hand over for less than face value because of the free publicity) as a goodwill gesture.

Yup, probably from a political point of view that would've been best. I'd rather the NHS, and indeed other key organs of state, were run by civil servants who did the right thing, than by Alastair Campbells who do the wrong thing because it's popular, but YMMV.

in future, they ought to make sure there is a procedure to round up two or three abled-bodied people who can sprint up the road with a wheelchair at a minute's notice

For the enormous quantity of women who go into labour within a wheelchair sprint of a hospital *and* without the assistance of a partner or friend *and* so rapidly that they give birth before they could reach the hospital? Yup, good use of resources.

JuliaM said...

"...I'd rather the NHS, and indeed other key organs of state, were run by civil servants who did the right thing, than by Alastair Campbells who do the wrong thing because it's popular..."

Because your 'customers', the people who pay for your service? Screw 'em!

What are they going to do, go somewhee else? We've got their tax money regardless...