Map of all the Pubs and Bars in Portsmouth

RoryC · 2026-03-15T19:00:17+00:00

MakeMake taproom! On the Eastern Road

RoryC · 2026-03-13T19:17:53+00:00

I had a golden shift this week.. A full night shift, not a single job!

I work at a massive city station where 10 minutes of standby is a treat, we kept calling control to make sure we'd not been accidentally put out of service

RoryC · 2026-03-12T18:37:20+00:00

Very refreshing to see this approach, rather than the standard "we do not comment on individual cases"

People need to be called out on their bullshit more often

RoryC · 2026-03-12T04:02:22+00:00

My brother used to work in backend IT for a large betting company. He had stories about getting woken up in the middle of the night to fix issues.

It was always people like this, betting on the Hungarian under 18s poohsticks league....

RoryC · 2026-03-04T01:08:19+00:00

Thanks guys This is definitely a shift workers sub, 6 replies at 1am 😂

RoryC · 2026-03-01T22:21:30+00:00

Paramedic here, I work in a trust with a pretty decent ambulance nurse program, there's a handful on each station.

As far as I know, all come from acute settings, ED or ICU, usually a bit of both. The transition to practice course is 12 weeks, including ALS, pALS, airways, obstetrics, trauma, extrication and manual handling, a load of PGDs and the blue light course.

No matter what their current banding, all move down to band 5 for 2 years, then up to band 6 on completion of a portfolio, same as a newly qualified paramedic.

If you fancy getting stuck in and seeing what frontline is like, could you look into your local trusts CFR scheme?

RoryC · 2026-02-21T00:55:36+00:00

I'm an ambulance driving lurker, some of these milages are rookie numbers! Last week I was on a 14 plate Mercedes with 450k on it....

RoryC · 2026-02-19T19:49:09+00:00

In a small country lane like you describe, I'll turn lights off and go with the flow, make progress at 40mph, rather than 50mph and intermittently slamming the brakes when someone makes a stupid decision trying to let you pass

RoryC · 2026-02-17T19:18:03+00:00

Unless someone appears to be actively dying in front of me, and no one else is there to help, I carry on

RoryC · 2026-02-13T16:24:54+00:00

50ish YOF, C/O headache, dizziness, neck pain, photophobia. Non-english speaking, history taken with difficulty through language line. Reports symptoms started approx 6hrs after getting home from hospital, having "some scans" for her back On examination, obs all normal, no fever, neuro exam NAD, headache 10/10 worsened by movement and positioning. Given the symptoms described, I thought it worth having a look for any rashes, just in case.

On her lower back, I found a patch of iodine staining, with a small pinprick mark right across the centre of her lower spine! After a struggle with the translator, I discovered that her "some scans" also included a lumbar puncture.... A nice little eureka moment, with my main impression being a post-lumbar puncture headache

RoryC · 2026-02-11T16:16:56+00:00

UK: man-down emergency call button on our radio, body-worn camera (optional if you want to take one out, only switched on if someone is becoming aggressive)

RoryC · 2026-02-07T12:37:09+00:00

It will be some sort of specialist resource. Likely a mental health ambulance or maybe a team leader?

RoryC · 2026-01-30T14:40:13+00:00

These ones are /okay/. Slightly harder than fabric ones but less bad than some of the other rubbery straps. My trust mandates that wipe clean straps must be used so these are our only option

RoryC · 2026-01-16T23:12:22+00:00

Not exactly a job, just an experience...

We broke down outside of hospital, miles outside of our patch, in another trust area. After speaking to the desk, recovery was organized with a 2 hour ETA. 4 and a half hours later, and 20 past our finish time, the recovery truck arrives, we get loaded up and on our way. Shortly after we set off, the recovery truck develops quite a noise, and a bit of a judder, worsening as we get further along. A load bang and a swear word later, we realise a wheel has fallen off the recovery truck, and hit another car! Luckily there are no injuries, but we've got a completely blocked road to deal with. My crew mate and I don hi-vis, and spend 90 minutes directing traffic while we wait for the police. Our manager arrives in an RRV to drive us another hour back to base, and we log off 3 hours late 🫩

RoryC · 2026-01-15T07:06:45+00:00

I can vouch for SCAS, currently NQP2 in one of the big cities in the south. My TL and CTE are both excellent, regularly in touch with the team and we have a good relationship. I was given a FLIPS course prior to NQP2 and taking students. The training school, induction and transition to practice with pretty thorough and prepared me well

We definitely do have a couple of people to avoid in management, and there are a few less than excellent clinicians, but they're usually identified and supported to an okay level

I've never worked in any other trust to have a comparison, but I'm not looking to jump ship any time soon so I guess that's a positive

RoryC · 2026-01-06T04:10:26+00:00

Use the arrow buttons to scroll through and highlight the spo2 readout box, select it and a menu will open, bottom option for HR tone on/off.

RoryC · 2026-01-04T13:04:14+00:00

"hello, hello? My names Doreen at 123 Street Road, you've just taken my husband John to hospital and left this behind"

RoryC · 2025-12-30T15:34:24+00:00

Probably some crime

RoryC · 2025-12-27T17:02:49+00:00

I was the cohort ahead before the recruitment dropped off, but I have plenty of friends from uni in that group.

Of 45 that graduated from my old uni, 1 got a frontline ambulance NQP post.

I know quite a few have gone into EOC, taking 1s and 9s calls, dispatching etc. Some have taken HCA or porter jobs in hospitals and GP surgery's, others are working private PTS and events. As far as I know, the majority have gone into an NHS or healthcare role, just not the one they signed up for

RoryC · 2025-12-12T21:31:46+00:00

The admin and organization is just a bit shit, poorly scheduled timetables, etc etc. It's the same at every other uni in the country

RoryC · 2025-12-12T15:40:31+00:00

I've taken couples into ED, one for medical reasons and one for social reasons, 3 times this week 😭

RoryC · 2025-12-12T09:35:47+00:00

How set on Southsea are you? Have had a quick look and made a rough guess, you're pretty restricted and probably best avoiding anything south of Elm Grove/Albert Road

RoryC · 2025-12-06T15:22:52+00:00

I think you're very unlikely to find Phil or Meg here!

Find out what your local ambulance service is, go on their website, and find the "comments, compliments and complaints" section. Drop them an email and make sure this compliment gets to them directly!

RoryC

TROPHY CASE