Paramedics locked out of park as boy is left with broken ankle Options

[blackdog]

http://www.newburytoday.co.uk/2012/paramed...th-broken-ankle

Another story to moan about:

'Paramedics locked out of park'? They may not have been able to get their car/ambulance right up to the injured boy - but they could get it to a matter of yards from the boy. They can't drive up to a 6th floor flat either - they have legs and the equipment to move a patient that sort of distance.

“We would like to suggest that the skatepark should be for skaters and scooters only, and not used for bicycles". Has no one told her that scooters are banned, not bikes.

Mrs Reid, who said her son cannot start his first term at Christ’s Hospital School, Wessex, because he will be in plaster for five weeks - why not? I'm sure he would not be the first schoolboy attending classes in a cast. Wessex?

[Simon Kirby]

So which town council clerk are you blackdog? Your compassion just overwhelms me.

[Andy Capp]

Access has always been a 'problem'. I'm surprised the councillors didn't raise the issue at the consultation phase for the new and massively increased size of the skate park.

[Biker1]

Wessex?

"The Kingdom of Wessex or Kingdom of the West Saxons (Old English: Westseaxna rīce) was an Anglo-Saxon kingdom in south-west England, from the 6th century until the emergence of a unified English state in the 10th century."
Often confused with West Sussex.

[Exhausted]

I have to say that I agree with Blackdog. The skatepark is only yards from the closest vehicular access point. The mother seems to think that the ambulance crew were an extreme distance from her injured son when in fact they were able to get very close. I would expect that the bike rider didn't know the extent of the injuries but it wouldn't have been a hit and run as she implied. Disgusted, OK, but a little strong for an accident. However, certainly much better than the currently used word "gutted".
Strange thing, the Christ's Hospital term started on 2nd September unless of course he was on half term and therefore either the paper got it wrong or perhaps the parents did about "Starting his first term"

[Exhausted]

So which town council clerk are you blackdog? Your compassion just overwhelms me.

You know very well Simon that he isn't a town council employee. You just couldn't resist another tilt at your favourite subject. I'm sure you could have done better.

[JeffG]

I Googled the school, and it is indeed West Sussex. How could anyone mix that up with an historic region and non-existent county? The mind boggles.

[Simon Kirby]

You know very well Simon that he isn't a town council employee. You just couldn't resist another tilt at your favourite subject. I'm sure you could have done better.

When I read the story I felt that Clerk Hunt's comments were reasonable and it looked to me as though the 11 year old's mum was upset and trying to find someone to blame for what was simply an accident, but I had every sympathy for the lady as I imaging it was a painful injury for her son and I'm sure she would have been quite upset to come back from her shopping trip to find her son injured. She was upset and over-reacted - it happens, no biggie, if you have family you'll understand. There was nothing more the council could or should have done and it didn't appear to me to need any comment.

What anoyed me was how blackdog was using the story to attack complaints against the council: "Another story to moan about:". No, it isn't. Not everything the Town Council does is rubbish. But sometimes there are legitimate complaints to be made against the council, and the council does not engage with these, and it's people with an attitude like blackdog's - that anyone with a complaint has to be an anti-establishment moaner - that have made the Town Council what it is. Shame on you.

You're right though Exhausted, I could have made my point better.

[blackdog]

It was an unfortunate accident - but the sort of incident that has to be expected if you build a skatepark.

Paramedics will very often be unable to get as close to casualties as they can in Victoria Park - and will have to move 20 stone adults further than this 11 year old boy - they are trained and equipped to cope. My real gripe was the 'paramedics locked out of the park' twaddle. Paramedics locked out but skateboarders (and everyone else) can get in? It's just daft. 'Ambulance locked out' would at least be accurate if still, in my opinion, an over-reaction in this instance. The issue is worth considering and some way of allowing emergency vehicles access would obviously make sense - but I don't see it had much impact in this case.

If the ambulance crew were equipped with bolt cutters and could have cut the padlock and get in I wonder if they would have deemed it necessary to do so?

[Newbelly]

I agree with Blackdog.

I think the story headline was a little excited considering the detail.

[Simon Kirby]

It was an unfortunate accident - but the sort of incident that has to be expected if you build a skatepark.

Paramedics will very often be unable to get as close to casualties as they can in Victoria Park - and will have to move 20 stone adults further than this 11 year old boy - they are trained and equipped to cope. My real gripe was the 'paramedics locked out of the park' twaddle. Paramedics locked out but skateboarders (and everyone else) can get in? It's just daft. 'Ambulance locked out' would at least be accurate if still, in my opinion, an over-reaction in this instance. The issue is worth considering and some way of allowing emergency vehicles access would obviously make sense - but I don't see it had much impact in this case.

If the ambulance crew were equipped with bolt cutters and could have cut the padlock and get in I wonder if they would have deemed it necessary to do so?

Yes, and again, I'm pretty sure that the average reader would have figured all that out for themselves. So why the need to conflate this non-story so derisively with the many other legitimate criticisms of the Town Council?

[Penelope]

The phrase compo seeker, comes to mind.

[Exhausted]

Yes, and again, I'm pretty sure that the average reader would have figured all that out for themselves. So why the need to conflate this non-story so derisively with the many other legitimate criticisms of the Town Council?

I've read the original Blackdog posts a couple of times and my understanding of it was that the "moan about" was not about NTC but the fact that the NWN was complicit in bigging up a non event story that could have been covered by a paragraph without all the nonsense from the mother and a photograph of the family sitting on the couch with agrieved looks on their faces.It's a wonder that the photographer didn't have them get the family album out and scan through some old photographs. It's a physical place and from what I've seen there is a great deal of consideration by the users for each other and they all give each other space to do what in some instances are very complicated and skilful moves. I doubt as I sort of said before, that anybody deliberately ran over him. It was an accident and he was cared for by other skatepark users. [quote]"There were also two lads who carried Jake to a pinic bench".

Report by all means NWN but James Williams that headline on page 3 was just too much. Anyway, page 3 should be reserved for other things.

[Newbelly]

My understanding of the OP was that it was a moan about the "blame and claim" culture, rather than an attack on those who criticise the council.

[Simon Kirby]

My understanding of the OP was that it was a moan about the "blame and claim" culture, rather than an attack on those who criticise the council.

Yes, looks like I got the wrong end of the stick. Not the first time, probably won't be the last. My apologies blackdog.

[NWNREADER]

I confess I could not see the 'story' when I read the article in the NWN. Had the Emergency Services complained about the risk to life etc then I would think (a bit) differently.
In a life or death situation, where close proximity was demanded, it would've been achieved you may rest assured.

[Exhausted]

I confess I could not see the 'story' when I read the article in the NWN. Had the Emergency Services complained about the risk to life etc then I would think (a bit) differently.
In a life or death situation, where close proximity was demanded, it would've been achieved you may rest assured.

The skatepark and patient would have been closer to the ambulance than to the doors of a rescue helicopter even if it had been life or death. In fact the ambulance personnel in this particular situation could probably have walked over to the park from the ambulance station and still have arrived with the patient in the target time.

[blackdog]

My understanding of the OP was that it was a moan about the "blame and claim" culture, rather than an attack on those who criticise the council.

It was a moan about the NWN's sensationalist reporting of a relatively minor incident and the absurdity of the headline.

And I still can't believe the 'Wessex'.

[On the edge]

It was a moan about the NWN's sensationalist reporting of a relatively minor incident and the absurdity of the headline.

And I still can't believe the 'Wessex'.

Suppose its nice to know there is nothing more newsworthy going on round here at the moment...!

(Didn't the Wessex get taken over by SEB?)

[Squelchy]

In a life or death situation, where close proximity was demanded, it would've been achieved you may rest assured.

Really? Click Here.