Ambulance Question?

Okay not really sure if it should be here, but it relates to pregnancy / birth and I am wondering if anyone can help me with a question.

IF I need to call an ambulance for some reason through labour, am I able to tell them where I want to go?

Where I live, there are 3 hospitals within 20mins drive (although only one has a maternity ward). I am booked into the hospital where I had DS, but it is a 45min drive. Can I request they take me to the hospital I'm booked into, or will they only take me to the closest?

I know when I was in a car accident years ago, the difference between going to two different hospitals was the side of the road we were on

You can request, but the paramedics will make the final decision based on how you are going, and the reasons why you called an ambulance. They will accommodate you if they can.

When I called for DD1 I was told it will generally be ambulance choice and more than likely closest possible facility.

That said my choice was further away but being that DD was BBA and they felt bad for me they took us to the hospital I was booked into.
It would also depend on bed availability etc aswell.


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Thanks girls! I know with the car accident I requested the 'other' hospital as I'd been there a month earlier for the same reason and they didn't have an issue, but it was actually the closer hospital...

Hopefully I won't need to call an ambulance, but I'd like to know that I haven't had to pay all this money to book in and not even get to the hospital!

Just make sure you have ambulance cover. Some PHI have different cover for ambulance.

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Just make sure you have ambulance cover. Some PHI have different cover for ambulance.

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Thanks tashybabe - probably should check that given we were supposed to be covered for pregnancy & birth related services and have found out we aren't!! wouldn't surprise me if we are paying for nothing

Sorry mine a bit OT, but with the ambulance cover - it says within sixty days non emergent = not covered,
If i needed to call an ambulance for any reason would they classify it as non emergent?
I should be sixty days by them (think we're at thirty now) but Its so confusing!!!

Regarding requesting a hospital, it also depend on the status of the hospital that you want to go to. Hospitals have two levels of bypass that they can place themselves on to clear a backlog of patients in the emergency department.
Even though you will go straight through to the maternity ward/birthing suite, you have to enter via emergency and be triaged... If the hospital is on bypass or HEWS, an ambulance cannot usually stop there, during the time...

Does that make sense?


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Non emergency is usually hospital to hospital.
If you called for pg related issues or labour it would be classified as an emergency I'm pretty sure.

Ambulance cover is the safest option as PHI have some funny clauses... Waiting period is a couple of days I think


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I'm not sure about using an ambulance in labour, but I did have to call one 2 days after my discharge from hospital after DS was born. (twice! looong story) They did give me the choice to either go to the closer hospital, or the one I birthed in. I was adamant I wasn't going back to the hospital I gave birth in, and they decided that it'd be fine for me to go to the other hospital I'd requested. It's the one closer to where I live though, and they'd checked me over and decided I wasn't in serious trouble- so they did what I wanted.

I imagine it'd be a very different situation if I wasn't doing so well?

Untold Angel, I am in Vic but I assume NSW would be the same. For maternity services, the preference is to take you to the hospital you are booked into. However, that may not be clinically appropriate for either you or the bub and that decision can only be made at the time after an assessment. For example, if you are a pre term labour presenting with an imminent delivery, you would be taken to the nearest hospital with a NICU. If you had a very quick labour and delivered at home, and you and bub were both stable - you would be taken to the hospital you are booked into.

Here in Vic, obstetrics patients greater than 20 weeks gestation are not triaged in ED, therefore HEWS and bypass are not relevant. The paramedics should get the ambulance clinician to contact the maternity ward directly to arrange your admission.

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Here in Vic, obstetrics patients greater than 20 weeks gestation are not triaged in ED, therefore HEWS and bypass are not relevant. The paramedics should get the ambulance clinician to contact the maternity ward directly to arrange your admission.

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Thanks for that correction! at the hospital i work in we do not have obstetric or childrens wards so they never come to us :)

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Regarding requesting a hospital, it also depend on the status of the hospital that you want to go to. Hospitals have two levels of bypass that they can place themselves on to clear a backlog of patients in the emergency department.
Even though you will go straight through to the maternity ward/birthing suite, you have to enter via emergency and be triaged... If the hospital is on bypass or HEWS, an ambulance cannot usually stop there, during the time...

Does that make sense?


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- Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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Although, if they paramedics decide thats where they are going even if the hosp is on bypass, I don't think the hospital will turn you away once you are there. I had a ride in an ambulance earlier in the year, and they decided to take me to the main hospital even though it was further away and was on bypass, because they had the stroke team there and they decided it was the best place for me (i was taken in with a suspected stroke, luckily turned out to be a migraine).

I'd ask them anyway to take you where you want to go, explaining that its where you are booked in and where you doc is.

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Although, if they paramedics decide thats where they are going even if the hosp is on bypass, I don't think the hospital will turn you away once you are there. I had a ride in an ambulance earlier in the year, and they decided to take me to the main hospital even though it was further away and was on bypass, because they had the stroke team there and they decided it was the best place for me (i was taken in with a suspected stroke, luckily turned out to be a migraine).

I'd ask them anyway to take you where you want to go, explaining that its where you are booked in and where you doc is.

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I had the same thing, taken to a non-maternity hospital as it was closest (which I later found out was a precaution due to possible stroke that turned out to be a migraine) and then later I was transferred to stay overnight at the private hospital I was booked into. So it does depend on the situation.

I seriously second making sure you have adequate ambulance cover though - I just go the bill for that very short trip (seriously, less than 1km!) which came in at $822. Fortunately for me work is picking up the tab as they're the ones that made the call, but sheesh, having to pay for that would be steep.

I think most call-outs would be classified as urgent unless it's a hospital to hospital transfer or similar.

My DH is a paramedic, and if he can, he will always take the patient to the mat hospital they are booked into. Unless he thinks birth is imminent or there are other medical reasons to go to a different hospital.
He also said that you don't triage through ED, he would take you straight up to maternity.
The only time you would go in to ED is if you were just say - crowning on arrival, meaning that they would get a midwife to come down to assist you to deliver,

It is basically the same ad if a friend or family drove you in.

He also has on occasions delivered in the back of the ambulance. If that happens, they pull over and both medics assist eith delivery.
Hope that helps.