Old 999 Still in Service

Old Advice Still Holds

—The Editors A s a nutrition professor, I am constantly asked why nutrition advice seems to change so much and why experts so often disagree. Whose information, people ask, can we trust? I’m tempted to say, “Mine, of course,” but I understand the problem. Yes, nutrition advice seems endlessly mired in scientific argument, the self-interest of food companies and compromises by government regulat...

Is the emergency (999) service being misused? Retrospective analysis.

Pneumonia: still the old man's friend?

BACKGROUND Hospital mortality of patients admitted with community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) has been well described. However, the long-term survival of those discharged alive is less clear. We sought to determine long-term survival of patients hospitalized with CAP and compare the outcome with controls hospitalized for reasons other than CAP. METHODS We performed a matched case-control analysi...

50 Years Old and Still Alive: Eigenproblems

Who calls 999 and why? A survey of the emergency workload of the London Ambulance Service.

BACKGROUND In 1996-97 there were 623,000 emergency (999) calls made to the London Ambulance Service (LAS) and this represents a 30% increase over the previous five years. The reasons for this increase, which is also observed nationally, remain unknown. It has been suggested that some callers may be using the 999 service "inappropriately" but no data are available from the ambulance service. O...