My first driving job!!

[x-Sonia-x]

Hi, I thought I would share my news, I start a new job tomorrow, less than a year after passing my test Ive got myself a 'responsible' driving job!!! I will be working for the out-of-hours doctor, driving him/her to house calls. The car is marked similar to paramedic car with flashing green light!! I am soooo impressed. The timing is impeccable as it coincides with my advanced driving!!!

[ROG]

Have I got this right - an on-call driver for a doctor in a marked car with the use of green flashing light which may be needed to get somewhere very quickly does not have to be an AD driver

Well done on getting the job but I do have the above concern

[ScoobyChris]

Congratulations Sonia

Rog, an out-of-hours doctor making house calls won't be responding to emergency cases so he will never need to get somewhere quickly. If it's anything like our out-of-hours doctors, it'd be quicker to drive yourself to A&E, but maybe we can change that with more people like Sonia driving them

I had thought paramedic cars had blue lights (we have a fully marked up Volvo that does) as it means they share the same exemptions as other blue-light drivers and can respond to emergency calls where time is critical. Green lights have no legal exemptions and the HC simply suggests that road users should react to them the same as a vehicle with blue lights but I can't recall ever seeing a vehicle with them being used.

Chris

[michael769]

Have I got this right - an on-call driver for a doctor in a marked car with the use of green flashing light which may be needed to get somewhere very quickly does not have to be an AD driver

Well done on getting the job but I do have the above concern

Indeed! But the green lights were introduced well before the out of hours services and originally they were used by doctors, who themselves had (unless the chose to obtain it) no additional driver training, so it is not really that surprising.

I guess the rationale is that the green lights do not allow drivers to make use of the exemptions to speed limits and red lights that ambulance drivers enjoy, and thus the driver would(should) not be driving any differently from a normal driver. If medical help is required as a matter of urgency surely an ambulance would normally be dispatched?

Out my way the GP service drivers are supplied by a local security guard firm as one of their roles is to provide a degree of personal protection for doctor when the have to visit the less safe areas of the county.

Still my observation is that other vehicles usually will pull over to make way for a doctors car with the lights on so it will still be cool driving one

[Horse]

Have I got this right - an on-call driver for a doctor in a marked car with the use of green flashing light which may be needed to get somewhere very quickly does not have to be an AD driver

Well done on getting the job but I do have the above concern

I think - memory of a conversation some time ago - that some of our out-of-hours Docs weren't too impressed with being chauferred quickly to calls by ex-plod, so they stripped off the green lights and used it as a 'taxi' service with 'ordinary' drivers rather than faux emergency response. Which they're - AFAIK - not, unless - presumably - they're under a 'BASICS' type system too.

It could be that their working practices only allow driving within speed limits and give no RTA exceptions, but that the lights and markings are for roadside safety at incidents.

[ROG]

under a 'BASICS' type system

That's what I was thinking of - seen them in rural Norfolk driving high speed with gren lights flashing to RTCs

[Horse]

Out my way the GP service drivers are supplied by a local security guard firm as one of their roles is to provide a degree of personal protection for doctor when the have to visit the less safe areas of the county.

Which, bearing in mind the Dr is carrying a bag of drugs, is quite sensible.


Aside: I did some pizza delivery rider training years ago, and the Co. owner was telling me how, in the more . . . low-brow . . . areas of one city, delivery riders were occasionally mugged - and the pizza stolen!

[Mr Cholmondeley-Warner]

Aside: I did some pizza delivery rider training years ago, and the Co. owner was telling me how, in the more . . . low-brow . . . areas of one city, delivery riders were occasionally mugged - and the pizza stolen!

It's a dangerous job, but someone's gotta do it ...

Congratulations, Sonia. Keep up that advanced driving training, let's hope the Docs notice

[Renny]

My wife used to be involved in that work, (no, not delivering pizza ). Some of the dodgy areas of Dundee were even more dodgy when carrying a bag of drugs for treating a heart atttack casualty.

We used to run with a green light when she was providing medical cover at motorsports events. She also used to carry it in case she had to return to the hospital through the Edinburgh rush hour to carry out emergency scans. Now she just logs onto the hospital network from home and looks at the scan on-line.

[MrToad]

A couple of years ago a local firm supplying this service sent their drivers en masse to our Skill For Life course.

Not a single one finished it.

[JamesAllport]

There's a distinction worth drawing between doctors who are going to general practice house calls, like those Sonia will be driving, and those responding under the auspices of the ambulance service to calls where their extra skills can add value over and above the skills of paramedics. The latter are usually members of BASICS, the British Association for Immediate Care.

Ambulance services who call out BASICS doctors now invariably do so on the basis of well thought out protocols. So, for example, they won't call out a doctor who can't prove that they have had appropriate training and CPD, because treating someone upside down in a crashed car isn't the same as treating a patient with the same problem on a trolley in a warm emergency department.

The same stance is taken about driver training. BASICS doctors now usually use blue lights, with the authority of the ambulance service, and so make arrangements for, or validate, their driver training through the ambulance service. Some of them are pretty good drivers, a friend of mine uses a fully marked Subaru Impreza WRX estate to battle the London traffic. He was given driver training through the London Ambulance Service.

[x-Sonia-x]

There's a distinction worth drawing between doctors who are going to general practice house calls, like those Sonia will be driving, and those responding under the auspices of the ambulance service to calls where their extra skills can add value over and above the skills of paramedics. The latter are usually members of BASICS, the British Association for Immediate Care.

This is right I wont need any extra training as I will be driving to house calls that are not urgent. Mind you I think I may need training on driving their car. I drive Citroen C3, it took me ages to get used to it. Their car is Ford Focus diesel and is only a week old, I know I will be conscious of that but hope I dont make stupid mistakes coz of it

[ROG]

Do you know anyone with a Ford Focus diesel that will let you have a drive before you start the job?

[x-Sonia-x]

I really wish I did Rog as I know I will be making a complete idiot of myself, when I have my driver 'training' it will be 'on the job' with doctor next to me and usual driver behind!!! wish they would let me have the car for an hour or too first . Mind you it took me a good few weeks to get used to my car, if it takes me that long I wont pass me probationary bit will I!!!!

[Mr Cholmondeley-Warner]

Take your time, don't rush. If your IAM training has covered a cockpit drill, try and remember as much of it as you can and make sure you're comfortable, familiar with all the control positions, have your mirrors adjusted etc. before you set off. Take some time to explore the car, test the brakes, experiment with some gear changes, until you feel you have a basic understanding of how well it goes and stops, early in the first drive, and work up from there. Good luck!