Don't blame it on the 'Sat Nav'!

A recent advert for a paramedic described the job as follows: -

"...Paramedics deal with emergency cases, as well as complex non-emergency hospital admissions, discharges and transfers. Paramedics work as part of a rapid response unit with support from an ambulance technician.

Emergencies can range from minor injuries to serious casualties in a major road or rail accident.

The role of the paramedic can include:

• providing all aspects of pre-hospital emergency care
• assessing a situation and making decisions quickly about emergency treatment and movement of the patient
• using advanced life support techniques
• carrying out certain surgical procedures
• administering a range of drugs for the emergency treatment of a number of medical and trauma conditions.

They are trained in advanced driving skills and can work on traditional ambulances, as well as rapid response cars and motorcycles. They are also responsible for checking the efficiency of the vehicle and equipment. Accurate record keeping is an essential part of the job."

If the above advert accurately describes the skills of paramedics how was it that one ambulance crew ambulance crew transferring a patient to hospital were sent 200 miles in the wrong direction by a faulty satnav.

The paramedics were transferring a patient 12 miles across Essex but ended up near Manchester before they realised the mistake!

The London Ambulance Service crew were asked to take a mental health patient from King George's Hospital in Ilford to a specialist hospital in Brentwood, a journey that should take about 30 minutes.

However, the fault on their on-board navigation system meant they were sent north and ended up on an eight-hour round trip.

Whilst I admit that I have on occasions set the Sat Nav in my car to show me the way to my local station, (I journey that I do twice every day!) I do not rely on it totally. If I set it to show me the way to the local corner shop, I would start to think that there was a problem with it, if I was still driving 15 minutes later, let alone 7 hours later!!

The news item reported that "...The crew are understood to be new to the job and had never been to the mental health hospital."

I think that either they had been there previously - but as inmates - or that they may be going back there in the near future, but on a one-way journey!