Safe to Approach

"25 year old male, stabbed in arm, bottled, bleeding heavily"

"Red base, are the police running on this, obviously we won't approach until they on scene, over"

"Roger, police have been requested, stay back until they arrive"

"Roger, will do, let us know when they are on scene, over"

"Roger, Red base out"

Now this is what I'm talking about. I nice stabbing to kick of proceedings! Not wanting to be cancelled we shot round to the RVP and hit 'at scene' at the earliest opportunity and waited. We donned our stab vests and got our pile of kit ready by the side door. You never know with a stabbing how bad it will be. Puncture wounds are an unknown because you don't know how deep the wound is or what damage has been done inside. Some stab wounds hardly bleed at all, some don't stop bleeding. It really is pot luck. We'd been sat there for about 10 minutes with no word on the fuzz so called up for an update.

"Red base, any ETA for the police? Over"

"Standby one..........Roger, police are on scene and the road is lit up like a Christmas tree, over"

"Rog"

We'd parked a few streets away so trundled round to the road. It was a dog-leg cul-de-sac, as we got near to the end we could see a very large group of people outside the house. I saw a number of vehicles following me into the road so assumed it was more police. It wasn't. In fact, there were no police on scene whatsoever. About 10 people surrounded the ambulance all shouting various different things. Then I heard:

"One of them stabbed him and the other pulled out a gun"

Gulp! We were now blocked in, we were expected by all around us to get out and help their friend yet there was quite a possibility someone was still on scene with a gun. This in a occasion I deemed worthy of the emergency button.

"Red base, red base, there are no police on scene and the attacker is still here with a knife and gun, we are blocked in the road, urgent police, I repeat urgent police"

"Are you safe? Are you in your vehicle, police on way"

"Rog, we are still in the truck but are surrounded by people wanting our help with the patient"

"Police ETA 1 minute, stand by"

Everyone was getting angry that we were not getting out and to be fair, I saw their point. Regardless of blame, they had called an ambulance because someone was stabbed. All they saw was an ambulance arrive and the crew refuse to get out. It wasn't their fault  there had been a monumental cock up in EOC! Speaking out the half opened window, I asked where the patient was. The pointed to a figure sitting on the wall about 20 feet from us. I asked them to bring him to the back door of the ambulance and we'd treat him inside. After a few insults, plenty of swearing and the over use of the word 'bruvs' he was brought over to us, we got him on board and locked ourselves in. Luckily a few seconds later the road was indeed lit up like a Christmas tree as the cavalry arrived and we were able to treat him without fear of getting shot. We ended up taking our patient to hospital who had minor injuries. They were just surface wounds which we dressed on scene and would probably need stitches. It was all a much to do about nothing really but that wasn't the point. We were sent into an extremely dangerous situation with possible knifes and guns without any back up whatsoever. How on earth can that happen?!

"Sorry guys, that message was meant for another crew!"

That snippet was sent down the MDT. Bloody cheek! I didn't appreciate the exclamation mark on the end for starters. I didn't find it funny. We'd It was far to soon to be cracking gags as far as I was concerned. I was told it was safe to approach and it wasn't. What kind of idiots turn up to gun fight with a number 3 dressing and an OP airway?! The LAS! Luckily we'll be putting this one down as a near miss!