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Long story short a mate came across a downed rider on the trails today.
He called 999 and stayed with the casualty until the Paramedics arrived .It sounded like the emergency call centre were having trouble pin pointing his location - section of trail between two roads.
A couple of people have said that if he'd used 112 then they would have had a better location.
My understanding is that from a mobile both 999 and 112 work the same and routed the same way to the call centre - position is triangulated from cell towers, the more towers your phone pings the better location can be narrowed down.
Isn't 112 just a universal European wide emergency services number - making it easier to access than having to remember several numbers?
<span style="font-size: 0.8rem;">Anyonene know differently?</span>
http://www.mountainsafety.co.uk/EP-999-or-112-Which-is-Best-aspx
<h3>The Bottom Line</h3>
In the UK, 999 and 112 do the same thing, namely connect you to the emergency services. Neither number has priority over the other, and neither number provides location information better than the other. They are the same.Continue using 999 in the UK and you will have no issue.
The incorrect information in the above video relates to EmergencySMS. Click here to skip down the page to that section (read to the bottom if you skip).
Ofcom issued a consultation paper in 2013 on the subject of location information, and how it could be enhanced further in the future. Within the paper there is clear reference to the fact that 999 and 112 are the same. Take a read of sections 2.3 & 2.4 of the consultation document.
None what so ever.
887.
112 works abroad, 999 doesn't.
Also easier to call 112 by mistake if trying to ring Sue in the post room on ext.112 and unaware you are on an external line, leading to a slightly confusing conversation with someone at the other end who sounds remarkably like her.
112/999/abcdefg.... blah blah. they're translated within the handset and sent as "emergency call" over the radio. Its all bollocks (says the man with over 20 years in mobile technology). having said that, I still use 112, just in case.
PS. this site really is utter dog shite, having to clear cookies to be able to login YET AGAIN is getting really irritating.
Just as a word of warning 112 doesn't work like 999 in all places in Europe. Well Italy.. if I remember it calls one type of the police. Each service has its own number and there seemed to be three or four for different types of police. We were told just to call an Italian we knew and they would sort it out
Install the 'whereami' app and one click gives you nearest postcode/street/house number, and crucially, co-ordinates.
I've installed OSLocate for this purpose, so I can just echo a OS grid location and worry about tending to a casualty than explaining where the hell we are on a hillside/down a trail. It doesn't need a mobile reception to run either.
I would recommend that you register for the emergency SMS service too in case you don't have enough of a signal for a call (but have enough for an SMS).
Yep os locate. Phone ringer on full volume (in case it's dropped) people told the red or locate button and phone not locked, and to try a text if no talkie signal, also where the van keys are. All in case it's me that's crocked
887.
very funny
Install the ‘whereami’ app and one click gives you nearest postcode/street/house number, and crucially, co-ordinates.
On an iphone just ask Siri ‘where am I?’ Will get address and, more importantly it off the beaten track, long/lat coordinates.
Frankly, unless you’re calling for someone not breathing I wouldn’t bother at the moment...
My Wife’s colleague had to call an Ambo for someone going into a diabetic coma at the weekend at 7pm - they got to her at 3am.
They were working too 6mins for people not breathing and 4 hours for anyone else and missing that.
Sorry, I know that’s only one area at one time, but it’s not an isolated case at all. If someone’s ‘only’ hurt and bleeding you might as well patch them up as best you can and drive them to A&E.
Ambulance response times categories for you rather than a friend said.
Yes at very busy times things do slip though.
I called an Ambulance for a mate who broke his collar bone in CyB. No idea where we were, but as there was no phone signal I had to ring from a house and get them to pronounce the road / valley we were in.
They didn't want to come and pick him up, basically expected us to walk him back to the car and drive him to A&E.
Once I realised that I mentioned that he had also hit his head and was very concussed. They then came out.
In fairness a broken collar bone might not need an ambulance.
I was once racing with a friend in Scotland. He crashed out on lap 2 of 6. Broke his collarbone. He couldn't drive so had to move his car, wait then for the race to finish to beg a lift. I gave him a lift to hospital, but as I won the race he waited until the prizes had been given out. We drove for an hour to his local hospital as he didn't want to get stuck in Scotland. On the way we went past his house so he could get out of his very expensive speed suit (fear the nurses would just cut it off) and pick up a bag of stuff to take in with him.
I also know of someone who rode down from the bottom of spooky wood to the car park with a broken hip but in hindsight an air amulance would have been a good idea on theat occasion but he claimed to be "a bit sore" so no one thought much of it.
Unless there is an immediate threat to life then other ambulance calls are prioritised. They’re not a free taxi service to A+E. And yes, as above, (until mentioned about head injury) I would expect anyone with a broken collar bone who can walk, to make their way to hospital themselves
The rider my mate found was unconscious with head & neck injuries - tool medics about 30 minutes to get to them as had to walk from Ambo.
They stabilised casualty and called for the Air Ambulance.
My mate had the sense to keep the casualty still when they came round despite them wanting to sit up.
Kind of brings home the risks of solo riding.
<div class="bbp-reply-author">Trimix
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<div class="bbp-reply-content">I called an Ambulance for a mate who broke his collar bone in CyB. No idea where we were, but as there was no phone signal I had to ring from a house and get them to pronounce the road / valley we were in.
They didn’t want to come and pick him up, basically expected us to walk him back to the car and drive him to A&E.
Once I realised that I mentioned that he had also hit his head and was very concussed. They then came out.
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So had he hit his head, or did you just say that to get an ambulance? The way it's written, it sounds like the latter!
I'd not expect an ambulance ride if I broke my collar bone. That's what spare inner tubes are for!
Dashed - exactly and if it was a genuine “needs an ambulance head injury” rather than “he was a bit dazed for a few minutes afterwards” then failing to tell the 999 operator the more serious condition in the first place was a bit daft.
On an iphone just ask Siri ‘where am I?’
Siri requires a (good) data connection. Being able to report your position either using coordinates or clear landmarks is something those of us using remote locations should be able to do.
Broke my collar bone in the Wyre Forest; walked. Swore a bit, got a lift to A&E. Wouldn’t catch me in an ambo unless I had no choice; I know where they’ve been!
I know where they’ve been!
Costa.
In fairness a broken collar bone might not need an ambulance.
They'll prioritise it anyway an probably send the medic or first responder car. They did that when I called for a friend. They'll ask a few things and may suggest getting someone to drive them if it seems okay, but my friend was going into shock a bit and would otherwise have meant leaving him alone and riding couple of miles to fetch the car.
Careful with phone GPS. Had another incident (collarbone) we were calling for and my phone was pointing to totally wrong place as it was only locking on to rough location based on cell rather than exact GPS.
Another collarbone break and they were competing between first responder and ambulance, both arriving within a minute of each other and barely 5 minutes after the call. To be honest we could have bundled the guy in a car really.
And yet another collarbone break (guess what's the most common MTB injury? 😁), coping with pain enough to have someone drive them. Actually, thinking about it there was another also though wasn't suspected collarbone at the time, but they went home and then to A&E themselves I think and yeah sure enough.
I guess there is no harm in too much information but I don't think there is a fool proof location method. My anecdotal evidence to this is giving exact co-ordinates to the emergency services when coming across someone and it taking over an hour to find them. The co-ordinates didn't seem to be used at all and I had to explain directions despite being a hundred m or so off a road. I'd be curious to know the other side from the paramedics on here but I'd be inclined to not assume having decent co-ordinates solves all location issues
Good coordinates narrows it down, knowing how to access that location will be down to local knowledge.
Interesting article I've just had through on a work email:
999 callers can now share live video with medics to assess patient
Not available in all areas, but in short the emergency services send a text message which allows them to access and stream from your camera.
Not sure how they can measure patient vitals through it though,
Will be interesting to see if there are any follow up results.