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I have been to 2 matches this season where there has been inadequate medical cover to keep the meeting running. Peterborough a few weeks ago and KL last night.

Are there any rules as regards medical cover or is it up to each club to do what they see fit? What does your club do?

When I was having a moan on the Peterborough thread about the lack of a second ambulance Neil Watson came on to correct me that there was a second ambulance but it was the paramedics decision to call a county ambulance. I wonder why that was? Were the ambulances in attendance inadequate? Did the paramedic have to stay with the injured rider? Was there only one paramedic in attendance? Should there be 2?

At KL last night, only 1 ambulance in attendance, they had to ring around to try and get another one out after it was discovered that the county ambulance was going to take 3 hours to get there. Anybody that has ever had to call an ambulance these days knows that the days of them turning up within minutes are long gone.

I've been going to Speedway for 40 years now and have been to many many tracks where ambulances have had to take injured riders off to hospital, sometimes the meeting continues as there is adequate provision in place for it to do so and other times there has been a massive delay with disgruntled fans streaming away vowing never to return...

It does seem a bit of a lottery

Edited by iainb
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What I found strange was in Denmark when the ambulance took a rider to hospital and no ambulance could take its place they faced a dilemma.It seems the ambulance has to be in attendance for the safety of the paying public, not the riders.So they could continue the meeting,but it meant all the fans had to leave the stadium or they could wait for an ambulance.Not sure,but I think because they didn’t have floodlights,maybe the fans were herded out?

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I cant be certain on the state now, but when I was involved ion the sport it was the case that if a non-county ambulance took riders to hospital it effectively went to the back of the queue for admission to A&E, as priority was always given to county (i.e. NHS) ambulances, so there would be a significant delay in the rider (or indeed member of the public)  being seen at A&E

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1 hour ago, rusky said:

I cant be certain on the state now, but when I was involved ion the sport it was the case that if a non-county ambulance took riders to hospital it effectively went to the back of the queue for admission to A&E, as priority was always given to county (i.e. NHS) ambulances, so there would be a significant delay in the rider (or indeed member of the public)  being seen at A&E

That might be generally true, but certainly in Kyle Newmans case it was not. In a Newcastle meeting a few years ago, and Kyle riding for the home side, he suffered a serious injury severing his femeral artery and nerve and was plainly bleeding to death. Our St Johns ambulance was dispatched with my daughter Doctor, and another of our Doctors, applying a turnaque whilst a third Doctor rang ahead and all the safety measures and equipment were on standby awaiting Kyles immediate arrival when he was whisked in and operated on. This series of events and happenings and urgency that the hospital gave to his case saved his life.   

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The SCB regulations state one ambulance and one first aid room (which can be a second ambulance). I medical officer (Doctor or Paramedic) I driver, I attendant and 4 first aid staff. Some tracks have additional cover over and above the miminum. All private companies must be CQC registered in order to take any patient to hospital. TV matches have an extra ambulance with a paramedic crew so that racing can continue. The problem is how far do you go - good medical cover is not cheap and thankfully at most meetings they do not need to do anything. The main problem being if the paramedic is required for ongoing treatment to a patient then the racing cannot continue as they are not available.  

Many NHS trusts wont attend if they know that there is medical cover on site or if they don't think it is serious enough. Some track will have extra cover if they are not near to A&E or outside resources are likely to be stretched. When someone is taken to hospital the crew have to wait to do the hand over so delays may occur depending on how busy A&E is and the condition of the patient. Unfortunately unless it is life threatening then there could be quite a wait before the ambulance can return.

 

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Buster has, it seems, "seen the light" and has agreed that two ambulances will be on duty at King's Lynn matches in future. The need to keep the customer satisfied suddenly seems important and I applaud that ( sincerely ). As I do with the most acceptable offer on refunds for that match last Weds. which was marred by lack of medical cover. I hope other promotions take note that happy punters may well return regularly, whereas unhappy ones walk away.

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On 7/5/2018 at 8:21 PM, iris123 said:

What I found strange was in Denmark when the ambulance took a rider to hospital and no ambulance could take its place they faced a dilemma.It seems the ambulance has to be in attendance for the safety of the paying public, not the riders.So they could continue the meeting,but it meant all the fans had to leave the stadium or they could wait for an ambulance.Not sure,but I think because they didn’t have floodlights,maybe the fans were herded out?

In Sweden ambulance is required for a meeting to be able to be run and the minimum ambulance requirements is an "event ambulance".
Then there is also several other requirements for a 500cc speedway/ice racing/long track meeting, like a medical team consisting of at
least 2 medics (doctor/nurse/ambulance nurse), a qualified pre-hospital care nurse. Tracks also have to have a basic medical room as well
for pre-hospital care.

In Sweden ambulances can only bring patients to hospital if they have an emergency permit from the transportation board.


This is according to Rule 1.9 and appendix A: http://www.svemo.se/ImageVaultFiles/id_14171/cf_44/TrackRacing_SJUKV-RDSBEREDSKAP_2016.PDF
 

Edited by Ghostwalker
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On 7/5/2018 at 7:21 PM, iris123 said:

What I found strange was in Denmark when the ambulance took a rider to hospital and no ambulance could take its place they faced a dilemma.It seems the ambulance has to be in attendance for the safety of the paying public, not the riders.So they could continue the meeting,but it meant all the fans had to leave the stadium or they could wait for an ambulance.Not sure,but I think because they didn’t have floodlights,maybe the fans were herded out?

There are definitely some unusual rules about ambulances in Denmark, or at least there were last time I was at a lower league meeting last year. 

We attended a Div.1 meeting and  after a crash where they waited for an ambulance to arrive, I questioned my Danish friend about the fact that they could run without one. He explained that they only required an ambulance to be in attendance if they charged admission for the meeting. If spectators were allowed in free it was not required...That did seem odd to me.

Edited by HenryW
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On 7/5/2018 at 12:03 PM, iainb said:

I have been to 2 matches this season where there has been inadequate medical cover to keep the meeting running. Peterborough a few weeks ago and KL last night.

Are there any rules as regards medical cover or is it up to each club to do what they see fit? What does your club do?

When I was having a moan on the Peterborough thread about the lack of a second ambulance Neil Watson came on to correct me that there was a second ambulance but it was the paramedics decision to call a county ambulance. I wonder why that was? Were the ambulances in attendance inadequate? Did the paramedic have to stay with the injured rider? Was there only one paramedic in attendance? Should there be 2?

At KL last night, only 1 ambulance in attendance, they had to ring around to try and get another one out after it was discovered that the county ambulance was going to take 3 hours to get there. Anybody that has ever had to call an ambulance these days knows that the days of them turning up within minutes are long gone.

I've been going to Speedway for 40 years now and have been to many many tracks where ambulances have had to take injured riders off to hospital, sometimes the meeting continues as there is adequate provision in place for it to do so and other times there has been a massive delay with disgruntled fans streaming away vowing never to return...

It does seem a bit of a lottery

Even if there were two ambulances at KL, the meeting would have been called off due to the two incidences!

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19 minutes ago, pawel115 said:

Minimum ambulance coverage for speedway meeting in Poland is 2 plus a fire truck i have never seen less than 3 in my experience while at speedway matches in Poland.

Wow!

over here we need 1 ambulance and a doctor. If a hospital is closer than 10km no doctor is needed at the track. This because the ambulance crew is mandatory to have been trained to a degree (cant remember or explain in english) and if something happens they are in direct contact over phone to a doctor who then can allow stronger medication. As for fire, think it’ s three exthinguishers inside the track and 1 or two in the pits.

A doctor cost about 150€ an hour and ambulance between 110-150€ an hour. Ambulance includes 2 nurses (of the mentioned standard).

Edited by f-s-p
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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Not to mention the delayed start at Birmingham on Wednesday due to Ambulance issues, now while we all understand the need for Medical cover to be present indeed its vital, this is now becoming yet another nail in the sport of Speedway.

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For me last night at Mildenhall took the biscuit. At the last two meetings at Kent I have been robbed of Eight races with no compensation. On a lovely sunny evening I thought at least there would be zero chance of an abandoned meeting. So heat 13 sees the paramedic struck in the eye by flying shale and unable to continue. Quite why she was watching from the pits I have no idea as I was under the impression the paramedic had to be on the inside of the track. Of course accidents happen but this has now become farcical. No wonder Speedway cannot attract new fans let alone keep the few that remain

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On 7/5/2018 at 9:26 PM, rusky said:

I cant be certain on the state now, but when I was involved ion the sport it was the case that if a non-county ambulance took riders to hospital it effectively went to the back of the queue for admission to A&E, as priority was always given to county (i.e. NHS) ambulances, so there would be a significant delay in the rider (or indeed member of the public)  being seen at A&E

 

On 7/14/2018 at 8:53 PM, pawel115 said:

I have been to meetings especially junior matches when all 4 crashed and 3 needed to be taken to hospital without delay.

 

Edited by westhamboy66
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