Ambulance UK December 2020

Volume 35 No. 6 

December 2020 

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CONTENTS 

CONTENTS 

172 EDITOR’S COMMENT 

174 FEATURES 

174 In conversation with... Daren Mochrie 

178 The Challenge of Transformational Training During 

the Pandemic and Beyond 

180 Refl ection on NHS Nightingale London 

184 NEWSLINE 

198 IN PERSON 

COVER STORY 

Transform 

Your Training 

PLAN 

TRAIN 

PREPARE 

Specialist manikins 

for more realistic 

training scenarios 

FOR PROFESSIONALS WHO SAVE LIVES 

Ruth Lee Ltd have manufactured training manikins for more than 25 years. A key part of 

their business development involves working alongside rescue teams to observe training 

– which allows continual product evaluation, giving you the best possible manikins for 

your training. 

In 2019, Ruth Lee Ltd worked with the eight2o water alliance to provide them with a 

solution for a confi ned space rescue scenario. 

The team at Ruth Lee provided a Confi ned Space manikin for the exercise which could 

be carried and easily positioned within a poor access location, thanks to its clever design 

where it splits into several components. They also liaised with South Central Ambulance 

Service HART Team and specialist technical rescue crews from Oxfordshire Fire and 

Rescue to arrange their attendance at the training day, so that a collaborative approach 

could be adopted for best practise. 

Mike Green, Senior Health, Safety and Wellbeing Advisor at MWH Treatment Limited said, 

“It was a great day where our site team could put in to practice what should be done if 

we need to evacuate a casualty from the 5 metre deep excavation. 

As we don’t want to put any of our employees at risk, the use of a manikin was the right 

thing to do to, allowing the team to practice the evacuation safely. 

It was great to be able to offer the emergency services the opportunity to come on to a 

‘live’ operational site, to allow them to put in to practice the recovery of the manikin from 

the tunnel and share their own experience.” 

Ambulance UK 

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Do you have anything you would like to add or include? Please contact us and let us know. 

171

EDITOR’S COMMENT 

EDITOR’S COMMENT 

My last two editorials have spoken about the COVID-19 pandemic, and as I write 

this, we have just learned that England will be moving back into full lock-down, 

with the devolved Nations likely to follow suit. 

I’m sure you are all more than aware of the impact of this. The news reports in this edition also show how 

the pandemic has affected us in a variety of ways. Whether this is the result of people refusing to seek 

medical help when they should, or the increased numbers of suicides ambulance clinicians are being called 

to. 

“...a 

common 

theme 

these days 

is that 

people are 

saying they 

are tired.” 

Just as importantly, the impact on ambulance staff is evident. Whether this is the strain on students, whose 

education has been affected, or the effect on our road clinicians and control room staff from the increased 

pressures. 

I am not telling you anything you don’t already know, when I say that a common theme these days is that 

people are saying they are tired. The changing rules and the increase in workload, combined with the 

effects of the track and trace process have meant that everyone from front-line staff to support services 

are feeling exhausted. When we add the fact that holidays have had to be cancelled this year, and the 

uncertainty of the situation going forward, it is completely understandable that people are feeling drained. 

Unfortunately, I don’t have any words of wisdom that can help in times like this. What I can say, though, is 

that it is important to recognise and acknowledge these feelings in you, your family and your colleagues. 

Health and wellbeing has been a focus for some time now. As we move into the festive period, and a 

second lockdown, this is probably more important than ever. What that means in practice will be different 

for everyone. Whether it’s taking time out, or simply having a chat, I think the important bit is the recognition. 

Spot the problem early, acknowledge it and look after each other. 

I would like to think that when I sit down to write my next editorial that this pandemic will be behind us. That 

may be wishful thinking. In the meantime, please look after each other and be kind to yourself. 

Dr Matt House, Co-Editor Ambulance UK 


172 

For more news visit: www.ambulanceukonline.com

FOR PROFESSIONALS WHO SAVE LIVES 

TRAIN FOR 

THE WORST 

PREPARE FOR 

YOUR BEST 

YOUR MOST CHALLENGING 

INCIDENT COULD HAPPEN 

TOMORROW... 

WOULD YOU BE PREPARED? 

Always train like your next call out could 

be your most difficult rescue. 

Whatever your training scenario, we 

have a specialist training manikin which 

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For the latest Ambulance Service News visit: www.ambulancenewsdesk.com

FEATURE 

IN CONVERSATION WITH... 

DAREN MOCHRIE 

Chief Executive, North West Ambulance Service and Chair, Association of Ambulance Chief Executives 

The NHS Providers team recently spoke to Daren Mochrie, chief 

executive of the North West Ambulance Service (NWAS) and newly 

appointed chair of the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives 

(AACE). 

We asked Daren about his reflections and learnings from the pandemic 

to date, the challenges faced by the ambulance sector, how trusts have 

come together to overcome these challenges, and what trusts need 

from national/regional bodies to support their response to future COVIDrelated 

demand and returning to near-normal levels of non-COVID 

health services. We are grateful to Daren and the AACE team for taking 

the time to contribute to this publication. 

Introduction 

The ambulance service has played a pivotal role in the nation’s 

response to the coronavirus pandemic. The surge in coronavirusrelated 

demand was felt acutely by ambulance trusts at the start of 

the outbreak, with pressure increasing rapidly on 999 and NHS 111 

services. Ambulance trust leaders were immediately focused on 

ensuring their services were resilient and able to provide the same level 

of care for patients while also protecting and caring for their staff. 

As the heath and care sector moves firmly to management of a second 

wave of the disease, it is timely to look at trust leaders’ reflections on 

the first wave. Over the summer we heard from Heather Lawrence 

OBE, Chair of the London Ambulance Service, about the importance 

of supporting staff during these extremely challenging times. This 

continues to be a primary focus for trust leaders. 

Context 

The sector has many reasons to be proud of its staff and volunteers given 

the vital role they have played in the COVID response. It is important to 

remember the context that ambulance services were working in prior to 

the pandemic, with trusts facing rises in demand against a background 

of severe workforce and funding pressures. Shortly before the pandemic 

hit, the number of 999 contacts in the month of December 2019 broke 

records by reaching 1.15m and NHS 111 also saw a rise in demand 

with the number of calls increasing by 12% annually, reaching 1.84m 

in December 2019. As Daren reflects below, it is telling that ambulance 

trusts saw performance against targets improve in May to July this year 

and this begs the question of whether there needs to be a detailed review 

of how ambulance services are resourced and commissioned. 

It is also clear from our conversation that that there is further scope for 

national and regional policy makers to work closely with the ambulance 

sector to identify and drive successful initiatives focused on improving 

patient experience and outcomes. The recently announced NHS 111 First 

pilot scheme is just one example of where strategic and operational insights 

from ambulance trusts will be vital to the successful delivery, evaluation and 

potential roll-out of the scheme. The skills, scale and reach of ambulance 

services mean they are particularly well placed to play a leading role in the 

design and delivery of integrated urgent and emergency care services. 

Q&A 

What are your main reflections and learnings from the pandemic 

to date, on the challenges faced by the ambulance sector and how 

trusts have responded? 


The ambulance sector has also been busy identifying lessons from the 

pandemic and AACE has been working with trusts to collate examples 

of what has gone well and what innovations need to be sustained. As 

the following conversation shows, the ambulance service is uniquely 

positioned to offer a joined-up perspective at a regional level to identify 

successes and the challenges that lie ahead as we approach winter and 

in longer term planning around the future shape of healthcare services. 

I will start off by saying how proud I am of AACE, NWAS and all our staff 

across the ambulance sector, as well as all the volunteers, who have 

worked so hard and tirelessly over the last eight or nine months to deal with 

the COVID pandemic response. This has been the biggest challenge ever 

faced by the ambulance sector, the whole of the NHS and the country. 

I have been in the ambulance sector for nearly 30 years and I didn’t think for 

one minute we would be dealing with a pandemic on this scale. 

“Everyone has come together in the best interest of looking after patients and 

colleagues. What really struck me [during the first wave] was how everybody 

dropped what they were doing and made themselves available to provide support 

and take on additional roles and functions that they wouldn’t normally do.” 

174 

For further recruitment vacancies visit: www.ambulanceukonline.com

FEATURE 

My main reflection has been the speed with which the ambulance 

sector was able to increase its level of resourcing, for example our 

999 and NHS 111 contact centres and our operations out in the local 

community. In the early days, the 999 and 111 call volumes increased 

significantly as COVID started to become prevalent in the community 

but, as lockdown took effect, 999 activity reduced considerably. This 

was unsurprising due to fewer people moving about – this meant fewer 

accidents, road traffic collisions and fewer alcohol-related calls. 

I was very impressed at how the ambulance sector was able to recruit 

and train additional staff and volunteers to support frontline operations. 

In my trust, we were able to recruit an extra 450 staff. 

I was pleased to see how the ambulance sector came together to share 

learning and divert resources across the country as needed. I know 

that other ambulance trusts were able to support London during peak 

demand through the national ambulance coordination arrangements. 

Are the national coordination arrangements still ongoing? 

We have certainly got them in place, and they will continue into the 

winter. This allows for demand, activity levels and resources to be 

monitored and coordinated across the ten ambulance trusts and allows 

us to be much more responsive to pressure points. 

AACE, as well as with our other director colleagues, and we will continue 

to do so. As AACE chair, my priorities are as follows: 

• making sure the sector is prepared to tackle COVID in the winter – 

this will be a major challenge for all providers 

• looking after the mental health and wellbeing of our staff and volunteers 

• system leadership and the role that ambulance trusts can play to 

support this across regions 

• digital capability within the ambulance service – for example, tracking 

vehicles, electronic clinical records, command and control systems 

and video consultations 

• improving equality and diversity in the ambulance sector. 

I think we also need to make it easier for patients and their families 

by having fewer access points to care – 999, NHS 111 and GP – and 

explaining what the offer is across these access points. If we also look 

at public sector finances, why would we have multiple workforces, 

estates and IT platforms across some NHS providers which mean 

inefficiency, less resilience and more opportunities for things to go 

wrong? An integrated workforce, digital platform and estate is the right 

thing to do. At NWAS our strategy is about having one triage platform 

which allows you to have integrated estate and digital systems with a 

workforce that can work flexibly across the NHS 111 and 999 services. 

Another thing that worked well was the AACE national groups of medical 

directors, HR directors, operations directors and so on. These groups 

kicked in as part of the national command and control arrangements 

and were able to lead some changes and policy directions nationally 

on behalf of the ambulance sector. For example, we were able to work 

with NHS England and NHS Improvement to develop sector-specific 

guidance on infection prevention and control. 

Do you think the experience of COVID has accelerated the role of 

the ambulance sector in system working? 

I would like to think it has, and this has certainly been the case in the 

north west. One of my ambitions as AACE chair will be to work with chief 

executive colleagues to see what more of a role we can play in that 

system leadership role. 

The early adopter sites for the NHS 111 First model are a great example 

of where we’re seeing this in practice. The sites I am involved in are 

very much focused on system working and design to increase NHS 111 

capacity and manage the booking process effectively. 

We’ve also seen it in the ambulance sector’s ability to put in place 

significant command and control arrangements 24/7, locally, regionally 

and nationally. As regional providers, ambulance commanders and 

leaders have had to work across multiple local resilience forum structures, 

sustainability and transformation partnerships (STPs) and integrated care 

systems (ICSs) and have had to do so for some months now. 

What are your reflections on how ambulance trust leaders have 

worked together during the pandemic and what are your priorities 

as AACE chair? 

Trust chief executives have continually worked collaboratively through 

What are the examples of innovations or beneficial changes 

developed during the pandemic that have stood out for you? 

AACE has developed a publication setting out what went well and the 

requirements for sustaining these changes for the future. Ambulance 

trusts will also be undertaking a lessons learned review. As the new 

chair of AACE I am taking the opportunity to review our strategic 

priorities and to take into account learning from COVID. 

An example of a positive change has been our ability to retrain our 

patient transport staff, training them to work alongside paramedics and 

emergency technicians and increase our 999 response capacity during 

COVID. This gave us real flexibility and surge capacity in those trusts 

with patient transport services. Something else we may want to keep in 

the future, particularly in our NHS 111 service, is the way we were able 

to deploy nursing, paramedic and medical students to support our NHS 

111 and 999 emergency operation centres. 

These workforce-related changes will also help to inform our future work 

with local STPs and ICSs on our staffing model and engagement with 

primary care networks (PCNs) on rotational models. 

Another change is around video consultations, particularly in the 999 

and NHS 111 centres, to increase our ability to safely keep patients in 

their local communities without the need to send an ambulance or take 

them to emergency departments. A mixture of face to face and video 

meetings is something which we want to keep and upscale in the future. 

Do you have any reflections on supporting staff and wellbeing? 

Staff and volunteers have found the last eight or nine months very 

difficult. We are going into unknown situations and staff are putting 

themselves at risk. Many people are worried about bringing the 


Do you have anything you would like to add or include in Features? Please contact us and let us know. 

175

FEATURE 

disease back with them to their family and loved ones. I don’t think the 

ambulance sector is unique in this respect. Other parts of the health and 

care sector will continue to be worried – it’s not just the frontline staff 

and volunteers but also the corporate teams, procurement, fleet, IT to 

name but a few and the senior leadership teams and managers who 

have been working flat out during this pandemic. 

In the north west we have five local resilience forums all running concurrently 

with one another at strategic, tactical and operational levels as well as the 

many other NHS cells and our own internal national, regional and local 

command and control structures in place, which has taken its toll on leaders. 

up further the directory of services to make sure we can book patients to 

emergency departments or sign post them appropriately to other parts 

of health and social care. 

We still have some of the same challenges around workforce. In line 

with national guidance, some staff are shielding, self-isolating or are 

taking additional precautions due to being in vulnerable groups. Another 

challenge includes the equality and diversity within our workforce and 

how we continue to keep our Black, Asian and minority ethnic staff and 

volunteers safe. We also recognise that we need to continue to do more 

to support our local Black, Asian and minority ethnic staff communities. 

We need to continue with the health and wellbeing support we have 

provided for staff and volunteers and keep this enhanced support in 

place. Some of the initiatives have included welfare vehicles, enhanced 

occupational health, peer support and counselling. In the north west, we 

have been doing additional things like bespoke podcasts around stress, 

anxiety, sleep and nutrition and holding Facebook live sessions to 

support staff. We have also extended our mental health support. Some 

trusts were using therapy dogs before COVID and are planning to bring 

them back post COVID. There is never enough you can do and we will 

continue to review, listen to our staff and learn going forward. 

Looking ahead, what support do you think the ambulance service 

needs from national and regional bodies to help manage COVIDrelated 

challenges and navigate the return to near-normal levels of 

non-COVID healthcare? 

We need a consistent seat at the table nationally, regionally and at 

system level as we have a huge contribution to make. I would like to see 

the regional and national teams ensuring that the ambulance service 

takes a more prominent role in the urgent and emergency care space 

and delivering further integration of NHS 111, 999 and patient transport 

services. You can see this is happening in some regions. 

We are heading into unknown territory and a busy period. I think that 

if we are able to access some of the same support we had during the 

earlier stages of the pandemic and are able to put resources in the right 

place, it could help the ambulance sector get through winter. All ten 

ambulance trusts were able to turn their performance green in May to 

early July but now performance has started to become challenged again 

in a number of ambulance trusts. This begs the question of whether the 

national and regional bodies need to review how ambulance services 

are commissioned and resourced. 

Have you been part of the NHS 111 First pilot? 

A number of NHS 111 providers have gone live recently with NHS 111 

First early adopter sites. We went live recently in the North West in 

Blackpool and Warrington and will be keeping a close eye on what the 

data from the pilot are telling us. The hope is that these pilots will show 

the 111 first approach to be an effective way of supporting patients 

to access the right care as quickly as possible and help us to better 

manage the ever-increasing demand for NHS services. 

Ambulance trusts including the north west that run both 999 and NHS 111 

are also speeding up how they integrate their 999 and NHS 111 services 

and working with commissioners to commission these services in a more 

strategic joined up way. It’s a complex picture currently, with one contract 

for NHS 111, one for 999 and different contracts with different clinical 

commissioning groups for patient transport. They all have different start 

and end dates with different lengths of contract duration. 

What has struck you most about the challenges you have seen 

during the pandemic and the ways colleagues have coped. Do you 

have any further personal reflections? 

I think it has been how everyone across the organisation has come 

together in the best interest of looking after patients and colleagues. 

What really struck me was how everybody dropped what they were 

doing and made themselves available to provide support and take on 

additional roles and functions that they wouldn’t normally do. This can 

also be said for how providers and others have really come together 

to break down organisational boundaries, overcome blockages, and 

worked together to open up new alternative pathways for patients and 

shared workforce to deal with some real pressure points. 


Are you getting a sense that activity is returning to a pre-COVID 

level or is activity still different? 

It did start to return to normal levels but is now increasingly busy again 

with the type of activity you would see at this time of the year. So that 

coupled with flu and COVID will mean we’re in for a busy winter. 

What are the additional challenges that you’re likely to face over the 

winter period? 

Some of it will be the demand placed on the ambulance and NHS 111 

services. In the north west, we are planning for at least a 20% increase 

in call volumes and we’re working with our system partners on opening 

Conclusion 

As we approach what is certain to be a challenging winter, it is clear 

that ambulance trusts have an integral role to play in the ongoing Covid 

response and effectively managing the increasing demand across health 

services. Trust leaders will be acutely focused on supporting their staff 

and volunteers and delivering the high quality service that their local 

communities need. Longer term, it is vital that ambulance trusts continue 

to have a seat at the table to support decision-making at national, 

regional and system level, recognising the value that they can bring. 

For more information: 

www.nhsproviders.org/in-conversation-with-daren-mochrie 

176 


A Huge Thank You to The NHS from the 

Ambulance UK Junior Team 

Carys - Age 6 

Zoe - Age 7 

Luke - Age 10 

Joseph - Age 5 

Thank You 

Thank You 

Thank You 

Aoife - Age 4 

Charlotte - Age 3 

Rory - Age 2

FEATURE 

THE CHALLENGE OF TRANSFORMATIONAL 

TRAINING DURING THE PANDEMIC AND BEYOND 

“But we’ve always done it that way…” surely one of the most dangerous 

phrases in terms of training. 

and we are proud to provide a solution which allows trainees to 

minimise person-to-person contact. 

Whilst the “if it’s not broke, don’t fix it” mentality does have some 

credence, it can be very damaging to have a fixed, inflexible vision 

which never looks to the future to see what we can do to improve 

training, and ultimately, patient outcomes. 

If the pandemic has taught us anything it is that the world can change 

in the blink of an eye. Whilst the detrimental effect of Covid across 

the world cannot be understated, we should acknowledge that some 

benefits have arisen from the crisis, including our ability to rapidly adapt 

and accept new approaches to working. 

At Ruth Lee Ltd, we are certainly seeing an accelerating transformation 

process and we are especially keen to work with experts in rescue and 

medical sectors to develop the very best tools for effective training. 

You may know us for our range of rescue training manikins – for the past 

quarter of a century we have been working with professionals who save 

lives to develop manikins for a variety of simulated training exercises. 

From technical rescue and CPR, to water rescue and manual handling. 

Increasingly, during the pandemic we have been approached by teams 

in many sectors who need to continue with essential training whilst still 

maintaining safe distancing. Nowhere has this been more prevalent than 

the healthcare sector – demand for manikins has grown exponentially 

But we are always looking to the future and we’re committed to meeting 

the needs of your future training. 

With this in mind, we recently hosted several panel discussions with 

leading experts from the healthcare, aviation, maritime and fire and 

rescue sectors. These were aimed at guiding us over the next 5 years 

to make sure that we are giving teams the tools they need to train in 

the most innovative and challenging ways, which will ultimately lead to 

improved skills. 

The Future of Rescue Training 

One thing we have always known, is that for training to be effective, 

it needs to be realistic. Gone are the days of leaving a “this car is 

on fire” sign and expecting first responders to act in a certain way. 

It is unrealistic and not likely to yield any kind of realistic response. 

Therefore, in a genuine emergency, how can we expect these same 

professionals to behave positively, with confidence and skill? 

Likewise, how can we expect a paramedic to perform lifesaving airway 

management if they are under pressure from different environmental 

factors that they have never experienced? It’s one thing to learn how to 

cannulate a patient in a nice warm classroom, and quite another to put 

that paramedic under a partially collapsed building in a USAR drill! 

During our panel discussions “The Future of Rescue Training”, we 

discussed many aspects of training and how this has changed over the 

past 10 years, before looking forward to the next 10 and predicting what 

changes we could realistically expect across all sectors. Here are just 

some of our findings: 

Accountability and avoiding Litigation 


Grenfell certainly sent shockwaves through the whole emergency 

services community. Not only was it a tragedy of epic proportions, but it 

opened our colleagues up to a very public enquiry where every aspect 

of the operation was dissected in minute detail – all in the name of 

accountability and liability. 

It is very sad to think that rescuers can be put in this position. But it 

has focused our minds on the importance of training to ensure that 

accountability is paramount through the proof of acquisition of diverse 

skills, at all levels. 

Of the experts we spoke to, all agreed that incident command and 

disaster management training would be a huge focus moving forwards. 

Working on a High Risk, Low Frequency model of training, this means 

178 


FEATURE 

that training needs to be increasingly dynamic, with opportunity for 

adaptation and interaction at all stages – allowing commanders to 

intensely challenge their teams whilst also stretching their own comfort 

zones in terms of operational preparedness. 

Certainly, a growing fear of litigation within the healthcare sector has 

impacted our growth as a business. On a weekly basis the trade press 

reports fines in health and social care settings which could have been 

avoided, or at least minimised by producing evidence of a robust and 

considered manual handling training programme. 

Improving Cross-Sector Collaboration 

Everyone agreed that best-practise and collaborative working is the 

ideal. It makes sense that we all learn from one another as many of the 

medical and specialist rescue skills cross over into different sectors. 

Increasingly, rescue teams are expected to perform medical skills to a 

much higher standard and vice versa, paramedics are expected to carry 

out lifesaving skills in a technical rescue setting such as confined space, 

whilst maintaining the safety of themselves, their colleagues and their 

patients. 

Therefore, it makes sense, where possible to make use of the expertise 

in different sectors and undertaking joint training and even policy writing. 

people come in all shapes and sizes and equipment must reflect this so 

that learners are well prepared to deal with all eventualities. 

Training in a Virtual World 

Some sectors are clearly better at adopting a ‘virtual’ world that 

others! In particular, the fire service and maritime sector appear to 

have embraced this approach which allows them to greatly increase 

the outcomes of their incident command training. It also addresses 

logistical issues, letting teams from all over the country, or in some 

instances, all around the world, take part in the same training scenarios 

for a joined-up learning experience. 

Of course, there is often no substitute for hands on practical training, 

but advancements in virtual reality and augmented reality mean that 

complex simulations which would previously have been extremely 

expensive to set up and take lots of time to prepare can be replayed 

over and over, whilst adapting to the responses of the learner. This 

clearly opens many learning opportunities, especially during the 

pandemic when meeting face-to-face can be problematic. 

Clearly, the future of training is an evolving picture – with more realism, 

technology and accountability key priorities for all. At Ruth Lee, we are 

proud to be part of that picture. 

Within the emergency services at least, merging of services and pooling 

of resources is becoming more prevalent, which can be a positive when 

training budget restraints mean that purchasing new and increasingly 

more technologically advanced equipment is hampered. 

Realism – addressing all demographics 

The arrival of high-fidelity manikins meant that it’s not just healthcare 

learners that increasingly expect more and more sophisticated manikins, 

and ones which cover all demographics from gender and race, to age 

and even BMI! It is important that training in all sectors considers that 



179

FEATURE 

REFLECTION ON NHS NIGHTINGALE 

LONDON 

by Dr Tim Collins EdD, MSc, BSc, PGCLT, RN, Colette Laws-Chapman Pg Dip Advanced Practice, RN RNT 

& Louise Houslip BSc, RN 


COVID-19 Extreme Education in Extreme 

Circumstances! A reflection on NHS 

Nightingale London 

The impact of COVID-19 across the globe has been unprecedented 

with extraordinary demands place upon healthcare professionals and 

organisations. During this pandemic hospitals and clinicians have had 

to adopt unique and innovative strategies to deal with the mass number 

of patients requiring hospitalisation and critical care treatment. With 

the initial scientific modelling suggesting that the UK would not have 

enough critical care capacity for the influx of COVID-19 patients, an 

emergency surge planning approach was taken and the cancellation 

of elective activity to increase potential capacity. In addition to local 

hospital escalation plans, the Government instructed the construction of 

temporary NHS Nightingale hospitals to add extra critical care capacity. 

The first of these hospitals was NHS Nightingale in London that was 

constructed in the Excel London Exhibition Centre. The hospital 

was announced on the 24th March 2020 but required considerable 

construction and adaptation by engineers, construction workers and 

the British Armed Forces. The hospital officially opened on the 3rd April 

under the responsibility and governance of Barts Health NHS Trust and 

took its first patients on the 7th April 2020. The hospitals initial capacity 

was for 500 patients which could be expanded to take 4,000 patients, 

which at full capacity would require in excess of 16,000 workforce to 

staff and run the hospital what would be the largest hospital in the UK. 

Regardless of any criticism that the NHS Nightingale was afforded, 

what was achieved in terms of adapting an exhibition centre into a 

fully functional hospital within 9 days was truly remarkable and was 

testimony to whole systems working, effective teamwork and multiagency 

collaboration. Ironically the last time we had been to the Excel 

was to attend the Intensive Care Society (ICS) State of the Art Congress. 

Never in our dreams, whilst attending the ICS congress learning about 

the latest research in critical care would we have thought we would be 

returning to support with the development of a new critical care hospital 

in the Excel. 

Working as part of a multi-professional team, we were contributors to 

the NHS Nightingale London Education Faculty that was responsible 

for establishing and delivering education to support the orientation and 

induction of the multi-professional clinical and volunteer workforce. 

The design of the education programme included the use of variety of 

delivery modalities including didactic, simulation, workshops, clinical 

skills stations, discussion groups and debriefing as well as bedside 

clinical coaching and induction. The multi-professional faculty of 

educators consisting of 300 volunteer Doctors, Nurses, Allied Health 

Professionals and technical staff were from all areas of healthcare 

and healthcare education, from trainee status to retired. In addition, 

we had expertise from NHS Learning & Development and Health 

Education England staff and other agencies. It was impressive but 

also reassuring at the same time, that the faculty had specific expertise 

from psychological and well-being practitioners who were able to 

provide self-care support and well-being for both learners and faculty. 

The education faculty were supported by a core education team of 20 

Education & HR leads and 400 volunteers from the Mayor of London’s 

Team London volunteers and NHS redeployed staff whom provided 

valuable support with co-ordination of groups, delegate registration and 

attendee pathways. On reflection, the mobilisation of this education 

faculty who had previously not worked together, that had to urgently 

design, develop and implement an education curriculum within 5 days is 

testimony to their phenomenal teamwork, dedication and commitment. 

We felt extremely proud and humbled to be part of this team which in 

our eyes demonstrates what is great about the NHS creating a team 

with a common mission to unite for our patients and support the NHS! 

There were lots of challenges and successes on the way. Initially the 

education centre was set up in the Excel, but it soon became evident 

that the large numbers of people requiring education and the layout 

out of the rooms meant it was extremely difficult to maintain social 

distancing practices. This then led to the education facility being moved 

south of the Thames to The 02 Arena. Similar to the Excel, we had all 

seen lots of iconic bands at The 02 and never thought we would be 

sharing The 02 arena floor, following in the footsteps of some of the 

greatest performers in the world but now it was our turn to put on a 

performance! The 02 arena provided sufficient space to allow social 

distancing and was quickly established to allow up to 600 learners 

to attend the Nightingale Education Induction day. The curriculum 

involved sessions relating to corporate & clinical induction, COVID-19 

Resuscitation, Simulation, Critical Care Clinical and patient care Skills, 

Communication and Psychological PPE and well-being. Attendees 

were streamlined depending on their experience or anticipated role 

within critical care and then allocated to a curriculum pathway which 

was designed to meet their skill set and expertise. The groups were 

multi-professional that consisted of current critical care practitioners to 

volunteers who may have no background or training in healthcare such 

as musicians and airline cabin crew. 

As a team we were responsible for designing and writing the simulation 

curriculum as part of the NHS Nightingale London induction curriculum. 

We designed a suite of 10 simulation scenarios with lesson plans, which 

the faculty would use depending upon the experience of the group 

and pathway they had been streamed into. The simulation lesson 

plans focused upon clinical scenarios and non-technical skills. The 

aim of the education was to prepare learners for anticipated COVID-19 

emergencies through developing effective bedside problem-solving 

180 


FEATURE 

skills whilst developing social and cognitive skills to enhance team 

working and patient safety within the NHS Nightingale. 

The clinical simulations focused specifically upon COVID-19 adaptions 

to care which included emergency de-proning following ET tube 

dislodgement, ventilation failure, COVID-19 Advanced Life Support 

in breach of PPE, Inter-hospital transfer of a patient for ECMO and 

deteriorating patient. For learners with no or limited critical care 

experience, the modality of simulation was used to orientate them to 

an invasive ventilated patient and equipment that is used within critical 

care. The non-technical skills focused upon verbal and non-verbal 

communication with focus on working with PPE insitu and providing 

critical care in a large acoustically challenging exhibition hall that was 

not originally constructed as a hospital. Other non-technical skills 

focused upon leadership with emphasis placed on working with new 

team members they were not familiar with or knowing their clinical 

expertise. All learners were taught the principles of using a graded 

assertive escalation approach, closed loop communication and the use 

of SBAR. 

Providing simulation in The 02 arena provided social distancing and 

multiple concurrent simulation opportunities but also challenges. We 

had an extremely large space to provide simulation but the acoustics 

in the arena were challenging, making it difficult to establish rapport 

and to hear debriefs. The positive outcome of the Simulation area 

transferring to The 02 was that we were able to replicate the design of 

the Nightingale wards, an open critical care area in a noisy and large 

exhibition hall, which allowed learners the opportunity to experience as 

close to clinical reality as possible. Due to time restrictions, the decision 

was made to use the plus/delta method of facilitating simulation debrief 

as this provided a swift but outcome-based simulation debrief. This 

debrief method was also chosen as we did not know in advance the 

expertise of the faculty and this model allows novice and experts to 

debrief to successful outcome. The faculty had to be skilled to adapt to 

the individual needs of learners and we implemented a rapid learning 

improvement cycle with daily faculty briefings to allow feedback and 

improvements to be incorporated into the curriculum following learning 

incidents from the hospital as well as learner evaluations. 

The evaluation feedback from the learners was extremely positive with 

comments from attendees indicating that the education was relevant 

and pertinent for preparing them for their roles in the hospital. Overall in 

excess of 2700 people went through the education programme, which 

was stood down on 13th May 2020. Currently, the Nightingale is in 

hibernation but if extra capacity is required due to an additional surge 

in COVID patients, the hospital could be re-opened, and the education 

programme restarted within short notice should the call to action be 

requested. 

Being a part of this project was a huge personal learning journey for 

us and we were privileged to witness what can be achieved within a 

short time frame, with the commitment and dedication from a multiprofessional 

team. We have to acknowledge all the NHS Nightingale 

Education Faculty who all played their role in bringing this curriculum 

together. We all certainly went on a learning journey together. 



181

ADVERTORIAL FEATURE 

The i-view, videolaryngoscopy and 

tracheal intubation for patients with 

suspected or confirmed Covid-19 

David Chapman, Airway Group Product Manager at Intersurgical 

For patients with suspected or confirmed Covid-19 who require 

intubation, a number of guidelines and reviews have recommended 

tracheal intubation is conducted with a video laryngoscope in 

preference to a direct laryngoscope. 1,2,3 

A video laryngoscope allows the clinician to view the anatomical 

structures on a screen or monitor, positioning them further away from 

the face of the patient than a direct laryngoscope, thereby potentially 

reducing the risk of exposure to patient respiratory aerosols and 

transmission of infection. 4,5 

Video laryngoscopy may also offer additional benefits to the clinician 

when intubating patients with Covid-19, where the objective is to 

achieve first-pass success and multiple attempts at intubation are likely 

to increase risk to both healthcare personnel and patients. 1 

A set of guidelines for managing the airway in patients with Covid-19 

from the UK Difficult Airway Society, the Association of Anaesthetists, the 

Intensive Care Society, Royal College of Anaesthetists and the Faculty of 

Intensive Care Medicine, has been published in the journal Anaesthesia. 

In a section regarding the fundamentals of airway management for 

a patient with suspected or confirmed Covid-19, it is recommended 

to, ‘Use techniques that are known to work reliably across a range of 

patients, including when difficulty is encountered.’ The list includes 

videolaryngoscopy for tracheal intubation, and a 2nd generation 

supraglottic airway for airway rescue. For emergency tracheal intubation, 

the authors confirm that, ‘laryngoscopy should be undertaken with the 

device most likely to achieve prompt first-pass tracheal intubation in all 

circumstances in that operator’s hands – in most fully trained airway 

managers this is likely to be a video laryngoscope.’ 1 

that, ‘Experienced airway staff should insert a supraglottic airway or 

intubate the trachea early so that the period of bag-mask ventilation 

is minimised. Consider video-laryngoscopy for tracheal intubation by 

providers familiar with its use – this will enable the intubator to remain 

further from the patient’s mouth.’ 6 

Whilst none of the above papers recommend a specific video 

laryngoscope, it has been suggested in some articles there may 

be a benefit to devices with a separate screen. In one paper, this is 

recommended on the basis that it enables the user to stay further 

away from the airway 1 . However, whether this is correct has yet to 

be established, since the operator is still required to hold the video 

laryngoscope in place, limiting the distance they can be from the 

patient’s head during the procedure. A separate screen may also 

have disadvantages, particularly if it is not optimally positioned 

and may draw the attention of the operator away from the patient’s 

head if it is not located centrally. A separate screen also introduces 

additional components to the intubation room and, unless single use, 

will be another piece of equipment requiring some form of cleaning, 

disinfection and reprocessing prior to reuse. 

With regard to the use of single use devices; recent consensus 

guidelines published in the journal Anaesthesia do not consider this 

question specifically in relation to video laryngoscopes, but they do 

discuss the issue in more general terms, and confirm that, ‘where 

practical, single-use equipment should be used.’ Of course, there are 

caveats to this, particularly where quality may vary between devices and 

the authors qualify their statement, acknowledging that, ‘where single 

use equipment is not of the same quality as re-usable equipment this 

creates a conflict.’ 1 


In regard to resuscitation, The European Resuscitation Council 

Covid-19 Guidelines for Advanced Life Support in Adults, confirm 

Interestingly, a recently produced guidance document, entitled, 

‘Guidelines – Infection prevention and control 2020’, (published 

before the Covid-19 outbreak) which does comment directly on 

video laryngoscopes in the context of infection control, confirming 

that, ‘Single-use video laryngoscopes minimise any chance of 

cross contamination and would be ideal, but many single-use 

video laryngoscopes have reusable components that need to be 

decontaminated after each use.’ 7 This is correct, since many devices 

incorporate single use blades, but still have reusable screens, monitors 

and handles. However, a completely single use and fully integrated 

disposable video laryngoscope is available to the clinician. 

The i-view is a single use, fully disposable video laryngoscope from 

Intersurgical and offers the clinician the only adult, one size, single use, 

disposable and fully integrated video laryngoscope with a Macintosh 

blade. 8 It requires no accessory products such as external monitors, 

cables or power source. As a result, it minimises any chance of cross 

182 


ADVERTORIAL FEATURE 

contamination and eliminates concern related to the cost, availability 

or effectiveness of appropriate methods of decontamination and 

reprocessing. 

In addition to the infection control benefits, i-view also offers the 

opportunity for videolaryngoscopy wherever and whenever the clinician 

needs to intubate. By incorporating a Macintosh blade, i-view can 

also be used for direct as well as videolaryngoscopy. Where availability 

of a video laryngoscope may be limited due to the cost implications of 

purchasing reusable devices for multiple sites, i-view provides a cost 

effective solution, by combining all the advantages of a fully integrated 

video laryngoscope in a single use, disposable product. This makes 

i-view ideal for use in resuscitation, pre-hospital, emergency medicine, 

intensive care as well as for difficult airway cases and anaesthesia. 

Whilst there are not yet, to our knowledge, any robust randomised 

controlled trials (RCTs) evaluating and comparing the performance 

of different video laryngoscopes during the current pandemic, 

particularly when wearing Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), a 

recent RCT published in April assessed visual grading of the glottis and 

hemodynamic response to laryngoscopy for the i-view compared 

to another video laryngoscope in patients with a BMI >50kg/m 2 . This 

concluded that both devices allowed for safe and effective intubation 

in this patient group. 9 This study was conducted before the current 

pandemic and without PPE. 

As highlighted in the consensus guidelines for managing the airway 

in patients with Covid-19, it is important that clinicians do not use 

techniques that they have not used before or been properly trained 

in and managing the airway of a patient with confirmed or suspected 

Covid-19 is not the time to test new techniques. 1 

In conclusion, a number of guidelines regarding airway management 

of the patient with Covid-19 have recommended the use of video 

laryngoscopy in preference to direct laryngoscopy for tracheal 

intubation, providing the operator is competent in the technique, familiar 

with the device to be used and has the appropriate training. 1 In general, 

single use devices should be used where practical, although a conflict 

may be created where quality of a single use device is not the same 

as an alternative reusable option. 1 The i-view is a single use, fully 

integrated and disposable video laryngoscope with a Macintosh blade 

and may be ideal for use where there is a concern regarding infection 

control, such as during the current pandemic. Any potential user of 

i-view needs to be competent and fully trained with regard to its use, 

and i-view must always be used in accordance with the Instructions 

For Use supplied with the device. 

Information regarding i-view and a short instructional video providing 

an overview of the device and an introduction to the basic steps for 

correct use can be found at https://www.intersurgical.com/info/iview 

References: 

1. Cook TM, El-Boghdadly K, McGuire B, McNarry AF, Patel A, Higgs A. Consensus 

guidelines for managing the airway in patients with COVID-19: Guidelines from the 

Difficult Airway Society, the Association of Anaesthetists the Intensive Care Society, 

the Faculty of Intensive Care Medicine and the Royal College of Anaesthetists. 

Anaesthesia. 2020;75(6):785-799. doi:10.1111/anae.15054 

2. Yao W, Wang T, Jiang B, et al. Emergency tracheal intubation in 202 patients 

with COVID-19 in Wuhan, China: lessons learnt and international expert 

recommendations [published online ahead of print, 2020 Apr 10]. Br J Anaesth. 

2020;S0007-0912(20)30203-8. doi:10.1016/j.bja.2020.03.026 

3. The World Federation of Societies of Anaesthesiologists (WFSA): Coronovirus 

– guidance for anaesthesia and perioperative providers https://www.wfsahq.org/ 

latest-news/latestnews/943-coronavirus-staying-safe#covid19 

4. Wax RS, Christian MD. Practical recommendations for critical care and 

anesthesiology teams caring for novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) patients. Can J 

Anaesth 2020; 67:568–76 

5. Zeidan A, Bamadhaj M, Al-Faraidy M, Ali M. Videolaryngoscopy Intubation in 

Patients with COVID-19: How to Minimize Risk of Aerosolization? [published 

online ahead of print, 2020 May 20]. Anesthesiology. 2020;10.1097/ 

ALN.0000000000003389. doi:10.1097/ALN.0000000000003389 

6. European Resuscitation Council Covid-19 Guidelines. Section 3. Advanced 

Life Support In Adults: https://erc.edu/sites/5714e77d5e615861f00f7d18/ 

pages/5e9ac62b4c84867335e4d1eb/files/ERC_covid19_spreads.pdf?1592906300 

7. Guidelines – Infection prevention & control 2020. Association of Anaesthetists. 

2020 

8. i-view video laryngoscope. Intersurgical. https://www.intersurgical.com/info/iview 

(web-site accessed 17.06.20) 

9. Gaszynski T. A randomized controlled study on the visual grading of the glottis and 

the hemodynamics response to laryngoscopy when using I-View and MacGrath Mac 

videolaryngoscopes in super obese patients [published online ahead of print, 2020 

Apr 2]. J Clin Monit Comput. 2020;10.1007/s10877-020-00503-0. doi:10.1007/ 

s10877-020-00503-0 

Contact information: 

Intersurgical 

Crane House 

Molly Millars Lane 

Wokingham 

Berkshire RG41 2RZ 

England 

Tel: 0118 9656 300 

Email: info@intersurgical.co.uk 

Website: www.intersurgical.co.uk/info/iview 



183

NEWSLINE 

SECAMB 

Enhanced NHS111 

service launches 

for Kent, Medway & 

Sussex 

The NHS111 service in Kent, 

Medway and Sussex is being 

enhanced and patients can now 

expect a more robust response 

with the same expert advice 

now delivered by a wider range 

of healthcare professionals. 

GPs, paramedics, nurses, mental 

health professionals, dental 

nurses and pharmacists will be 

part of the enhanced NHS111 

clinical assessment service which 

launched today (1 October 2020). 

People who call 111 – free from 

mobiles or landlines 24/7 - or 

access the service via www.111. 

nhs.uk will speak to call handlers 

and/or healthcare professionals 

who will be able to assess 

symptoms over the phone, 

issue prescriptions and directly 

book people into onward care 

appointments if they need one. 

summer season allowing the 

team to focus on the immediate 

response. At the peak of the 

pandemic, 111 health advisors 

were handling almost four times 

the usual daily call numbers. 

NHS111 continues to play an 

integral role during the pandemic, 

helping patients access essential 

NHS services and receive the 

care they need from the most 

appropriate place. 

The launch of the contract and 

clinical assessment service is the 

first of several enhancements via 

the NHS 111 service for patients 

across Kent, Medway and Sussex. 

Over the coming months, 

NHS111 will integrate more 

closely with SECAmb’s 999 

service and existing out-of-hours 

care, including providing access 

to evening and weekend GP 

appointments, home visiting 

services, minor injury units, 

urgent treatment centres and A&E 

departments. Across the NHS, 

by the end of the year, patients 

will also be booked a timeslot at 

Emergency Departments if this 

is deemed the most appropriate 

service to help and support them. 

SECAmb Deputy Chief Executive 

and Senior Responsible Officer 

for NHS111, David Hammond, 

said: “The SECAmb 111 and 

Integrated Urgent Care team 

have done an exceptional 

job in expanding our call 

handling capability and clinical 

assessment service, to include 

a wider spectrum of healthcare 

professionals and onward care 

services, whilst delivering a solid 

interim service under the most 

challenging of circumstances. 

I would like to thank everyone 

involved in achieving this and for 

continuing to develop NHS111 so 

as to better support our patients 

and NHS partners across Kent, 

Medway and Sussex.” 

Andrew Catto, Chief Executive 

of Integrated Care 24 said: “This 

enhanced service provides us 

with a really exciting opportunity 

to partner with South East Coast 

Ambulance Service to continue 

to deliver high quality care across 

the south east. We have a long 

history of providing services 

across Kent and Sussex and are 

delighted to have the opportunity 

to continue to serve patients 

across two large counties. 

“NHS111 is increasingly being seen 

as the gateway to urgent care and 

we are proud to be able to support 

our patients on a 24/7 basis 

through the delivery of this service.” 

NHS111 Clinical Lead for Sussex, 

Dr Victoria Beattie said: “NHS111 

will be pivotal in ensuring patients 

get access to the right care, at 

the right time and place for their 

symptoms. The new clinical 

assessment service will mean 

patients can talk to a doctor or 

healthcare professional sooner, 

As the lead provider, South East 

Coast Ambulance Service NHS 

Foundation Trust (SECAmb) 

is working in conjunction with 

not-for-profit social enterprise 

Integrated Care 24 (IC24) to 

deliver the enhanced service. 

giving patients real confidence in 

the care they will receive.” 

Senior Responsible Officer for 

NHS111 in Kent and Medway, 

Stuart Jeffery added: “We are 

confident that by working with 

the ambulance service and IC24, 


The new five-year contract was 

awarded in August 2019 by NHS 

commissioners in Kent, Medway 

and Sussex and is valued at 

£90.5m (£18.1million in 2020/21). 

SECAmb and IC24 already 

provided NHS111 to parts of the 

south east separately but will now 

work together to deliver a more 

joined up service. 

The original go-live date of 1 

April 2020 was postponed due to 

heightened demand brought on 

by the Covid-19 pandemic, and 

SECAmb’s interim contract was 

extended to bridge the spring/ 

we will be in a good position 

to build the foundations for 

integrating urgent care across our 

regions and are looking forward 

to improvements to help people 

receive the right care in the right 

place at the right time. NHS111 

should be the first call for urgent 

medical needs.” 

SECAmb and IC24 continue to 

develop their workforces and offer 

a range of exciting roles, spanning 

both emergency and urgent care 

services, which can be viewed via 

www.secamb.nhs.uk and 

www.ic24.org.uk 

184 


NEWSLINE 

Student Cathy proves 

it’s never too late to 

achieve your dreams 

am scared of. I feel so much more 

confi dent in being able to do my 

job and help people. At the end of 

the day, that’s what it’s all about, 

although I do look a bit like a 

Tellytubby in the full PPE suit!” 

As part of Allied Health 

Professions Day 2020 the 

University of Northampton was 

profiling each of its AHP subject 

areas. Wednesday 14 October 

was the turn of Paramedic 

Science. 

Student Cathy Goldsmith is on 

the cusp of fulfilling a decadesheld 

dream. 

Cathy – 58 years young and 

proudly one of the older members 

of her student cohort – originally 

applied to study Paramedic Science 

20 years ago, but for personal 

reasons moved into nursing. 

Most recently, she worked at 

UON’s Competence Test Centre 

(CTC) before fi nally enrolling 

on the Foundation degree in 

Paramedic Science in 2018. 

Cathy explains: “If you had asked 

me fi ve years ago, I would never 

have said I’d get to the point where 

I would start the degree, let alone 

complete all of the exams for it. 

I’m wonderfully surprised to say I 

passed all of them…I even picked 

up some A’s along the way! 

“The pandemic has made all of 

us ‘wobble’ a bit, but there’s been 

so much more to do and learn 

during coronavirus. All Paramedic 

Science students had the 

opportunity to join East Midlands 

Ambulance Service as technicians 

during the lockdown, due to our 

placements being cancelled. 

“My thoughts are always with 

the people affected by it, but 

as someone training to be an 

emergency care professional, I’ve 

had many opportunities to better 

prepare for being a paramedic. 

For instance, I was a lead clinician 

and made clinical and care 

decisions, but always with the 

back-up of a supervisor if needed. 

“COVID has changed our way of 

working, but it’s not something I 

Even with the pandemic and 

having a family, Cathy has kept 

herself continually busy, juggling 

her studies with part-time work 

at the CTC and continuing as a 

volunteer fi rst responder. 

In recognition of her good deeds, 

she was named ‘Northampton’s 

2019 Inspirational Woman of the 

Year’ as part of Northampton 

Borough Council’s annual 

International Women’s Day 

Celebration last year. 

Even though she’s nearing the 

end of her time as a student, 

Cathy will always think fondly 

on her time with the UON team 

and how the switch to ‘lockdown 

learning’ was handled so well. 

She concludes: “I am excited, sad 

and a little nervous about coming 

to the end of the course but also 

so proud to have shown everyone 

I could do it! You just have to put 

your mind to achieving things. 

“The lecturers have been 

amazing, always keeping in touch 

and keeping us motivated. COVID 

has been just as challenging for 

them as us, but we are all in the 

business of adapting and coping. 

“We had little online study groups 

prior to our exams, setting each 

other quizzes and discussing 

different scenarios. Our lecturers 

also arranged special sign-off skills 

sessions with a consultant from the 

hospital, which were very helpful. 

“I miss the close contact of our 

cohort; working with younger 

people certainly kept me young. 

For now, hugging hello is virtual or 

through elbow taps. That’s hard 

when you are in a profession that 

is a caring one and used to being 

more up close and personal. But 

it’s still a privilege to walk into 

someone’s home to help them 

when they most need it; I still get a 

buzz about this and knowing I have 

made it and fulfi lled my dream.” 

i-view video 

laryngoscope 

Video laryngoscopy 

wherever and 

whenever you intubate 

i-view is the new, single use, fully 

disposable video laryngoscope 

from Intersurgical, providing the 

option of video laryngoscopy 

wherever you might need to 

intubate. 

This makes i-view ideal 

for use in: 

• Pre-hospital 

• Emergency Medicine 

• Resuscitation 

• Anaesthesia 

• Difficult Airway 

• Intensive Care 

The complete solution from 

the respiratory care specialists 

For further information please visit: 

www.intersurgical.co.uk/info/iview 

Quality, innovation and choice 

lnteract with us 


www.intersurgical.co.uk 

185

NEWSLINE 

St John Ambulance 

unveils new 

ambulance 

New ‘box-body’ vehicle will 

fuel effi cient. They can also be 

driven on a B-licence. This will 

in time make them much more 

cost-effective for the charity. The 

environmental impact has also 

been improved, when comparing 

them to other style ambulances. 

revolutionise the charity’s 

existing fleet 

St John Ambulance has launched 

a new ‘box-body’ ambulance 

which will help transform the work 

undertaken by the charity, both 

as an emergency support for the 

NHS and at events. 

From a patient perspective, the 

smoother drive and improved 

handling combined with the built-in 

Stryker Power-LOAD and Power- 

PRO XT stretcher make for a much 

more comfortable experience. It 

is also less daunting for older or 

nervous users, as the old tail-lift 

alternative was particularly noisy. 

The new design has taken 14 

months to create, in collaboration 

with Wietmarscher Ambulanz, 

MAN Group, and a number of the 

volunteers and staff who will be 

using them - ensuring they are 

comfortable as well as practical, 

catering to every need of both 

patients and caregivers. 

There are many advantages to 

the new vehicles, they are more 

spacious, enabling crews to work 

better, and lighter with a fully 

automatic gearbox which makes 

them easier to drive and more 

The work that St John carries out is 

varied, and the previous fl eet was 

divided between emergency and 

event vehicles. These new multipurpose 

ambulances will rotate 

across both offerings, meaning they 

will be much more durable and will 

not require so much maintenance, 

as mileage management will be 

able to be maintained - another 

long-term reduction of cost. The 

modular design means that they 

will be much more intuitive for 

volunteers, which brings the added 

benefi t of extra safety for patients, 

and ease of cleaning and re-kitting. 

Craig Harman, National Ambulance 

& Community Response Director 

comments: “Having consulted with 

staff and volunteers at every stage 

of the development of our new fl eet, 

we are confi dent that they provide a 

much-improved experience for both 

them and our patients. The new 

design gives us a larger operating 

space and familiarity across all 

vehicles which will save time and 

enhance the patient experience. 

All in all, they will make a huge 

difference to the work that we do, 

and I can’t wait to see them out on 

the road”. 

Rob Macintosh, National 

Fleet Manager adds: “Adding 

these vehicles to our fleet is 

a huge step forward for us, 

they use less fuel, require less 

maintenance and the upgraded 

engines mean that we are also 

making emissions savings. The 

multi-functional aspect of these 

new ambulances means that we 

can elongate their life span by 

rotating them on different types 

of duties. They’ll make a big 

difference to us now and into 

the future”. 

WHY NOT WRITE FOR US? 

Ambulance UK welcomes the submission of 

clinical papers and case reports or news that 

you feel will be of interest to your colleagues. 


Material submitted will be seen by those working within the public and private 

sector of the Ambulance Service, Air Ambulance Operators, BASICS Doctors etc. 

All submissions should be forwarded to info@mediapublishingcompany.com 

If you have any queries please contact the publisher Terry Gardner via: 

info@mediapublishingcompany.com 

186 


NEWSLINE 

SAVING 

LIVES 

IS YOUR 

POWER 

2019 – Crédits photos : Lukas Palik 

Stryker Emergency Care 

More power to you 

LIFEPAK ® 15 

Monitor – defibrillator 

LUCAS ® 3 v3.1 

Chest compression system 

Power-PRO XT 

+ Power-LOAD 

Powered ambulance cot 


This document is intended solely for the use of healthcare professionals. A healthcare professional must always rely on his or her own professional clinical judgment when deciding whether to use a particular product when treating a particular patient. Stryker does not dispense 

medical advice and recommends that healthcare professionals be trained in the use of any particular product before using it in surgery. The information presented is intended to demonstrate the breadth of Stryker product offerings. A healthcare professional must always refer 

to the package insert, product label and/or instructions for use before using any Stryker product. Products may not be available in all markets because product availability is subject to the regulatory and/or medical practices in individual markets. Please contact your Stryker 

representative if you have questions about the availability of Stryker products in your area. Stryker Corporation or its divisions or other corporate affiliated entities own, use or have applied for the following trademarks or service marks: Stryker LUCAS, LIFEPAK, Power-PRO 

XT, Power-LOAD, SMRT and XPS. All other trademarks are trademarks of their respective owners or holders. The products depicted are CE marked in accordance with applicable EU Regulations and Directives. 2019-22613 10-2019 

Do you have anything you would like to add or include in Newsline? Please contact us and let us know. 

187

NEWSLINE 

LAS 

Tragedy of double 

bus crash in 

Orpington revealed 

in latest episode 

of award winning 

‘Ambulance’ 

documentary 

Episode 5 of BAFTA award 

winning ‘Ambulance’, broadcast 

on Wednesday 14 October at 

9.00pm on BBC One, caught 

on camera the heroic efforts 

of London Ambulance Service 

crews that race to the scene of 

a three vehicle crash. 

In the middle of an already busy 

night shift last year on Halloween, 

calls start to come in to the 

Emergency Operations Centre 

with reports of multiple casualties 

from distressed passengers on 

two buses that were involved in a 

collision with a third vehicle. 

Rachel and Pete, two London 

Ambulance Service (LAS) incident 

response officers, each have 

around 12 miles to travel to reach 

the scene in Orpington where they 

will take control of the ambulance 

service’s response to the incident, 

coordinating the many skilled 

clinicians to ensure each patient 

gets the right care as soon as 

possible. 

The crews on scene include 10 

double crewed ambulances, two 

Advanced Paramedic Practitioners 

(APPs), units from the Service’s 

Hazardous Area Response 

Team (HART) and a London’s 

Air Ambulance team who have 

arrived by road. In all, around 40 

London Ambulance Service staff 

responded to the scene. 

Nicola and Maisie, a Mum and 

daughter crew who work together 

on a double crewed ambulance, 

join LAS colleagues on scene to 

treat the injured and traumatised. 

Maisie tends to one of the bus 

drivers, treating his injuries and 

comforting him as the enormity of 

what has just happened starts to 

sink in. 

Emergency Ambulance Crew 

Maisie, who has been with LAS 

for two years and was just 20 

at the time of the crash said: “A 

scene like that is so chaotic, it can 

feel overwhelming. When I look 

at what other people my age are 

seeing and experiencing, it’s very 

different to my job. 20 year olds 

don’t really find themselves in 

those situations.” 

In all, LAS treated 15 patients at 

the scene of the crash. Sadly, one 

of the bus drivers tragically died 

from his injuries. 

Garrett Emmerson, London 

Ambulance Service CEO, said: 

“It is heart-breaking to see such 

a scene of devastation where so 

many people have been injured 

and tragically, a London bus driver 

lost his life. 

“The expertise and 

professionalism of London 

Ambulance Service colleagues 

is evident for all to see, from the 

call handlers talking to the injured 

and traumatised on the phone, 

to the incident response officers 

in charge of the scene, to the 

paramedics providing that one to 

one care at the roadside. 

“We are constantly innovating 

so that we can keep pace with 

the various and ever-changing 

emergency and urgent care 

needs of nine million Londoners. 

Often today that can mean 

sending specialists in midwifery, 

or mental health, or elderly fallers. 

Sometimes though it means 

lots of resources in one place, 

making sense of a chaotic scene, 

and saving multiple lives at a 

significant or major incident. 

“We come into our own during 

those dark times and I take this 

opportunity to say thank you to 

everyone involved in responding 

to the incident in Orpington last 

year, and to those across the 

Service who have responded to 

any largescale incidents in the 

capital.” 

As well as the road traffic collision 

in Orpington, episode 5 also 

featured a raft of other incidents 

including the birth of a baby 

delivered at home by crew Debbie 

and Liam, an 86 year old woman 

with breathing difficulties, and a 

12 year old who suffered a nonserious 

injury in a very delicate 

place thanks to a dog jumping up 

at him! 

As the series passed the half way 

mark, it’s gripping audiences up 

and down the country with over 

3.5million viewers on the night in 

addition to those who watch it on 

catch up. 


188 


NEWSLINE 

Stars of BBC 

Ambulance reveal 

toll of treating 

trauma cases in 

London 

Ambulance crews have 

revealed the impact of treating 

patients during the course of 

a violent “payday” weekend in 

London. 

The fourth episode of the hit TV 

show Ambulance, fi lmed after 

people have just been paid and 

hit the town, gives a glimpse of 

what London looks like on a busy 

weekend and shows a series of 

violent incidents. 

It features Incident Response 

Offi cer Pete who is only ever sent 

to the most challenging jobs. 

Just 30 minutes into his nightshift, 

Pete is on his way to a woman in 

cardiac arrest - the 999 control 

room describe her as the “sickest 

patient in London”. Her son has 

called the police saying he had 

stabbed her. 

Film crews followed Pete over a 

single weekend in the autumn of 

2019 and go behind the scenes 

as he debriefs his colleagues after 

the incredibly distressing incident. 

He calls himself the “protector”. 

He said: 

“I’m there to protect the patient 

but also to protect our staff. When 

an incident response offi cer turns 

up, the crews know they can 

concentrate on their patient and 

we will keep everyone safe. 

“The jobs can be dangerous or 

traumatic and sometimes it takes 

its toll but crews know I’m always 

there for them. Not just at the 

scene, but whenever they need 

looking after. We have to look 

after staff so they can look after 

patients.” 

When Pete also responds to a 

double shooting and a group of 

men who have been attacked with 

iron bars, he reveals he moved his 

family out of the capital although 

he continues to work here. 

Viewers see him refl ect 

that London has changed 

dramatically over the years 

adding ‘there isn’t a day that 

goes by that London doesn’t 

surprise me’. 

Meanwhile emergency 

ambulance crew Stuart and 

crewmate paramedic Rachel rush 

to treat a grandmother who is 

believed to be in cardiac arrest 

causing Stuart to open up about 

the heartbreak of when London 

Ambulance Service was called 

to treat one of his own family. 

He goes on to reveal how that 

moment changed his life. 

London Ambulance Service Chief 

Operating Offi cer Khadir Meer 

said: 

“This episode really shines a 

light on the exceptional people 

we have working for us. They 

all have their individual reasons 

for wanting to work for London 

Ambulance Service but what 

they have in common is that they 

come to us wanting to make a 

difference; wanting to save lives. 

“This is true throughout the 

Service – on the road, in the 

control room or behind the 

scenes – everyone plays their 

part in caring for our patients. 

And as we see, there is no such 

thing as a quiet day caring for 

London.” 

% 

3 

YEAR 

WARRANTY 



189

NEWSLINE 

South Central 

Ambulance Service 

taking on Mount 

Kilimanjaro to raise 

money for The 

Ambulance Staff 

Charity (TASC) 

Coventry, 27th October 2020 – 

On 2nd September 2021, over 

20 team members from across 

SCAS will begin the 10-day trek 

to climb almost 6km to the top 

of the mountain. 

Climbing Mount Kilimanjaro is 

a very demanding and physical 

undertaking which will see the 

team journey through dense 

tropical rainforests, all the way 

to the snow-capped peaks. The 

team, led by paramedics Quoc Vo 

and Juliet McGill, are completing 

their challenge to raise vital funds 

for TASC to continue providing 

services to support the UK’s 

ambulance staff, their family 

members and ambulance service 

volunteers. Quoc said: 

“The Coronavirus pandemic has 

taken a toll on my colleagues, 

and over the years I’ve seen the 

difference TASC can make; they 

are always there to help us and 

I wanted to do something to 

help them. I’ve always wanted 

to climb Kilimanjaro and thought 

now would be the perfect time to 

tick something off my bucket list 

while raising funds for a fantastic 

cause to help them cope with 

the increasing demands on their 

services. 

Even better is that I’m not doing 

it alone as several my colleagues 

are joining me on the climb to 

help raise money for TASC. 

This challenge is a year in the 

making. We’re not starting the 

climb until September next year, 

but the build-up, the training and 

the fundraising is key and starts 

now. Everyone is really excited 

and can’t wait to be on top of the 

mountain!” 

Juliet said: 

“TASC is such a great resource 

for us and I and a few of my 

colleagues wanted to do 

something together to raise 

money for such good cause. 

Climbing Kilimanjaro as a team 

gives us something to work 

towards and look forward to after 

the hard time we’ve all had in 

2020. I can’t wait!” 

The team are raising funds 

through their online JustGiving 

page: www.justgiving.com/ 

fundraising/teamscas 

Jasmin Rana, TASC’s Director of 

Income Generation and Supporter 

Engagement said: 

“We’re so excited that the SCAS 

Team have chosen to fundraise 

for TASC! Demand for our 

services is growing year-on-year 

and in 2019/20 we provided 

56% more interventions than the 

previous year. The team have 

set themselves a real challenge 

which looks set to be our biggest 

fundraiser ever, and the vital funds 

they raise will make such a big 

impact on the people help.” 

Hi-Tec Europe Ltd, the creators of 

the very popular brand Magnum 

boots worn by ambulance staff 

across the UK, are donating a 

pair of boots to each climber to 

help them on their way. Helen 

Durant, Hi-Tec Europe’s European 

Marketing Director said: 

“We are delighted to supply the 

South Central Ambulance Staff 

Team with their chosen Magnum 

Boots when embarking on their 

Kilimanjaro challenge next year. We 

wanted to support and recognise 

the efforts of these individuals who 

been on the frontline during these 

unprecedented times. They are 

also raising funds for a worthwhile 

charity, TASC, The Ambulance 

Staff Charity, that supports 

Ambulance staff in their time of 

need.” 

National 

resuscitation 

organisation updates 

process to support 

conversations about 

an individual’s 

care and realistic 

treatment choices in 

a future emergency 

COVID-19 pandemic has drawn 

attention to importance of 

person-centred discussions 

when making decisions about 

cardiopulmonary resuscitation 

priorities of care or treatment in an 

emergency, discussing what they 

would want to happen in advance 

is essential. 

The ReSPECT process is 

already widely used by health 

and social care organisations 

across England and in parts of 

Scotland to support them having 

important conversations with 

patients in advance about their 

emergency care, and whether 

cardiopulmonary resuscitation 

(CPR) should be attempted in a 

future emergency. 

The ReSPECT process is supported 

by a discussion guide and form 

and version 3 is being introduced 

into clinical practice today. The form 

is used to document the discussion 

and any recommendations agreed, 

is signed by the clinician and can 

be signed by the patient/ their legal 

proxy or family member if they wish 

to do so. 

The changes made to the form 

have resulted in a more patientcentred 

form, with increased 

prompts for explicit clinical 

reasoning. It addresses areas 

where misunderstandings have 

been reported and includes more 

personable and clearer language. 

The COVID-19 pandemic has 

highlighted the importance of 

sensitive and well-structured 

conversations about someone’s 

realistic care choices and for 

there to be shared understanding 

between professionals, patients 

and their families. 

Resuscitation Council UK 


has updated the ReSPECT 

(Recommended Summary 

Plan for Emergency Care and 

Treatment) process which 

supports person-centred 

conversations about care in 

a future emergency following 

feedback from professionals, 

patients and their families. 

As patients are often not able 

to make decisions about their 

The ReSPECT process was first 

introduced by Resuscitation 

Council UK in 2016, with design 

expertise from the Helix Centre, 

Imperial College London, 

to support discussions and 

clinical recommendations 

about emergency care being 

made in advance. It was 

developed by experts and 

patient representatives keen to 

develop a process that supports 

190 


NEWSLINE 

professionals, patients and / or 

their families having a carefully 

constructed and person-centred 

conversation. It aims to develop 

a shared understanding between 

the healthcare professional and 

the patient of their condition, 

the outcomes the patient values 

and those they fear and then 

how realistic treatments and 

interventions, such as CPR, fit 

into this. 

The completed form stays 

with the patient and should be 

available immediately to health 

professionals called to help in an 

emergency, whether the patient 

is at home, in their community 

or in a healthcare setting. 

Professionals such as ambulance 

crews, out-of-hours doctors, care 

home staff and hospital staff will 

be better able to make quick 

decisions in an emergency about 

how best to help if key information 

has been recorded on the 

ReSPECT form. 

Sue Hampshire, Director of 

Clinical and Service Development 

at Resuscitation Council UK said: 

“We’re pleased to be introducing 

updated documentation to 

underpin the ReSPECT process 

today. 

“Communities in around 70% of 

counties in England and parts 

of Scotland are already using 

the ReSPECT process and the 

improvements we have introduced 

today are based on feedback from 

organisations who are already 

using the process as well as from 

patients and their families. 

“People have different views 

about the care or treatments they 

would want if they were suddenly 

ill and could not make decisions 

about their care or treatment. 

The new form will support better 

conversations and well-informed 

decision-making in advance, and 

we are happy to be introducing it 

for professionals and patients.” 

Dr Zoe Fritz, chair of the ReSPECT 

subcommittee, said: “We first 

developed the ReSPECT process 

to help professionals and 

patients or their families achieve 

better conversations and better 

recording of important treatment 

recommendations. The ReSPECT 

process encourages discussion 

about the individual’s condition, 

what’s important to them, what 

their realistic options are and 

what the likely potential health 

outcomes will be. 

“A number of misconceptions 

exist about CPR and when and 

how recommendations not to 

attempt CPR are made. So, it is 

crucial to have a person-centred 

approach and conversations 

that aim to ensure shared 

understanding between the 

professional and patient. By 

doing so, any misunderstandings 

can be addressed, and 

professionals can ensure that 

any recommendations made are 

based on what’s important to the 

patient.” 

When completed, the ReSPECT 

form provides a clinical 

record of agreed and realistic 

recommendations that come out 

of that conversation between a 

professional and the patient or 

their legal proxy or family member. 

A person’s ReSPECT form 

includes recommendations 

about emergency treatments 

that could be helpful and should 

be considered, as well as those 

not wanted by or that would not 

work for the patient. It includes a 

recommendation about CPR, but 

that may be a recommendation 

that CPR is attempted, or a 

recommendation that it is not 

attempted. 

For more information on the 

ReSPECT process, visit: 

www.resus.org.uk/respect 

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191

NEWSLINE 

LAS 

Shocking rise in 

suicides revealed in 

award-winning TV 

documentary 

Ambulance crews in London 

have responded to almost 40 

suicides or suicide attempts a 

day this year. 

Figures from London Ambulance 

Service show crews attended 

an average of 37 suicides or 

attempted suicides a day this year 

compared to an average of 22 a 

day the year before. Five years 

ago the number was 17.* 

In north London, paramedic 

Rachel and her crewmate Stuart 

reflect on how difficult it is for 

crews to respond to suicides. 

London Ambulance Service Chief 

Executive Garrett Emmerson said: 

“Viewers will see some of the 

very distressing calls we get 

and the devastating impact on 

the patient’s family but also the 

impact on our crews and call 

handlers. 

“I’m so proud of the care and 

compassion shown to every 

single one of our patients. 

by Chroma, the UK’s leading 

national provider of arts therapies 

services. 

Research shows that music 

can significantly improve 

psychological health and 

wellbeing as it engages the 

neurochemical systems 

responsible for reward, 

motivation, pleasure, and stress. 

However, music therapy is not 


The shocking figures come as an 

episode of the hit BBC TV show 

‘Ambulance’ featured a mum who 

calls 999 after finding her 36-yearold 

son hanging. 

Call handler Carly tells Ursula 

how to give her son chest 

compressions as ambulance 

crews are sent to their home. 

When advanced paramedic Kevin 

arrives he realises they cannot save 

Daniel. Instead he comforts Ursula 

as she says goodbye to her son. 

Kevin said: “I have certainly seen 

an increase in suicide over the 

past 20 years. The majority of 

them tend to be male. 

“You feel an empathy for the 

family members for what they are 

going through and the heartache 

they are going to suffer. 

“We haven’t found all the answers 

in dealing with mental health.” 

The same night, a 999 call comes 

in from a suicidal woman. The call 

handler keeps her on the phone 

until help arrives. 

They are on their way to a patient 

who has cancer. It prompts Stuart 

to open up about his own battle 

with testicular cancer when he 

was just 20 years old. 

Now 33, Stuart said: “I left it for 

eight months before seeing a 

doctor and even then I didn’t tell 

them I had found a lump on my 

testicles. I said I had belly pain or I 

had back pain. 

“I got three wrong diagnoses 

including appendicitis and IBS 

because I didn’t tell them about 

the lump on my testicles.” 

By the time Stuart did open up to 

doctors, the cancer had spread 

and he had tumours on his lymph 

nodes round his liver. 

After treating a toddler who had 

fallen from a bunkbed, Stuart talks 

candidly about how treatment 

left him unable to have a baby 

naturally but goes on to reveal 

some happy news. 

Two-year-old Adam is just one of 

several fallers that crews attend 

– falls are the biggest cause of 

accidental death in Britain. 

“This year more than ever we 

need to recognise the terrible toll 

poor mental health can have and 

ensure our patients - and our own 

people - can access the support 

and care they need.” 

Blue Light Symphony 

Orchestra awarded 

£10,000 funding for 

mental health support 

Blue Light Symphony Orchestra 

(BLSO), the UK’s only orchestra 

for all emergency services 

personnel, has been awarded 

£10,000 funding from the 

Coronavirus Community 

Support Fund, distributed by 

The National Lottery Community 

Fund. 

Covid-19 has given rise to 

an increase in mental health 

problems, not only in the general 

public, but also emergency service 

workers who are experiencing 

exceptionally increased levels of 

stress and anxiety. 

First responders need access to 

timely and relevant intervention 

but for many, finding words 

to express and process their 

emotions is difficult and the 

funding will be used to provide 

music therapy to overcome 

mental health issues. 

A feasibility pilot project, in 

partnership with Surrey Police and 

Sussex Police, Surrey Fire and 

Rescue Service and East Sussex 

Fire and Rescue will be delivered 

routinely offered to emergency 

workers as part of the support 

that enables them to deal with the 

traumatic events and situations 

they deal with each day. 

Seb Valentine, a Detective Sergeant 

in the Surrey Police Safeguarding 

Investigation Unit based in 

Guildford and founder of the 

Blue Light Symphony Orchestra, 

said: “This funding is vital and 

will enable us to deliver ground 

breaking music therapy sessions 

initially in Surrey and Sussex. This 

project will provide 12 weeks of 

group music therapy, delivered by 

Chroma music therapists, to 24 

police officers, firefighters and staff 

suffering from symptoms of PTSD, 

stress or anxiety.” 

“This is the first step in developing 

the world’s first programme 

of music therapy designed 

specifically to reduce these 

symptoms in emergency workers.” 

Daniel Thomas, joint managing 

director of Chroma said “We are 

delighted to be a part of this project, 

which could be the stepping-stone 

to providing consistent, effective 

therapy for all frontline staff. The 

work they do on a day-to-day 

basis is invaluable to society and in 

running this pilot scheme, we can 

begin to support them, long-term, 

as and when they require.” 

In the summer, Blue Light 

Symphony Orchestra held a 

999Run raising over £1,000 to 

further their aim of improving 

mental wellbeing in the emergency 

services through music. 

192 


NEWSLINE 

County Air 

Ambulance HELP 

Appeal makes 

second £250,000 

donation to British 

Association for 

Immediate Care 

The HELP Appeal charity has 

presented its second annual 

donation of £250,000 to the 

British Association for Immediate 

Care Schemes. This 900-strong 

organisation, made up of medical, 

nursing and paramedic volunteers 

are divided into local and regional 

immediate care schemes, and are 

on call around the clock, seven 

days a week to support NHS 

Ambulance Services across the 

country. The presentation was 

made virtually and brings the 

total amount donated to British 

Association for Immediate Care 

Schemes to £500,000 so far. 

All of the Association’s affiliated 

schemes were invited to apply 

for grants enabled by the HELP 

Appeal, and as a result ten 

schemes have benefitted. This 

round of grants is funding three 

emergency response vehicles 

and addressing equipment 

needs for over 80 volunteer 

members. This includes equipping 

vehicles with blue lights and siren 

systems, satellite navigation and 

communication equipment, winter 

tyres for scheme owned vehicles 

and personal protective helmets 

and clothing for their roadside work. 

reach an incident quickly and 

safely. Last year twelve schemes 

benefitted, and I’m delighted that 

more will be receiving the HELP 

Appeal’s funding in 2020. 

“The HELP Appeal focuses on 

saving time to save patients’ 

lives, whilst upholding the highest 

of safety standards for medical 

professionals and the donation 

to the British Association for 

Immediate care ensures that our 

ethos continues.” 

Tony Kemp, Chief Officer, British 

Association for Immediate Care 

said: 

“Our schemes are all voluntary and 

their funds either come from their 

own pockets or charitable donations. 

The HELP Appeal’s annual grant is 

quite literally a lifesaver and provides 

for vital equipment and vehicles that 

otherwise would be only a dream 

for many. 

“The British Association for 

Immediate Care through its 

affiliated immediate care schemes 

have been providing vital life and 

limb saving pre-hospital care for 

well over 40-years. They are a vital 

and often unheralded resource 

to the NHS ambulance services 

bringing specialist advanced skills 

to a wide range of medical and 

trauma incidents across the UK.” 

Daryl Brown, Chief Executive of 

Magpas, based in the Mid Anglian 

area, which provides a helicopter 

and road service and is one of the 

BASIC schemes receiving funding 

said: 

“Magpas is delighted to receive 

this funding towards our new 

Rapid Response Vehicle for 

Bedfordshire. This critical care 

provision in Luton is absolutely 

essential. With high levels of 

traumatic injury, many parts 

of Bedfordshire are far away 

from major trauma centres and 

doctors working at the Luton and 

Dunstable Hospital tell us they 

are in desperate need of medics 

specially trained in pre-hospital 

emergency medicine on the 

ground in the county. This grant 

that will fund a MAGPAS Rapid 

Response Vehicle will be a major 

benefit for patients in Luton, 

Bedfordshire and surrounding 

areas, bringing quick lifesaving 

care to those in need.” 

Dr Theo Weston MBE, Chairman 

of BEEP based in the Lake District 

said: 

“This I fantastic news and will 

really give our newly energised & 

progressive Fund a massive boost. 

I am so grateful to the British 

Association for Immediate Care for 

this and to the HELP Appeal. 

“We are going through a very 

exciting period of change and 

expansion with several more 

Doctors starting to respond for us 

so that we are now significantly 

increasing our cover throughout 

Cumbria. This donation will 

consolidate these changes 

with immediate effect and will 

really help us to move forward 

towards providing a much more 

comprehensive cover for the 

whole of this region.” 

The 2020 grant will be 

distributed to BASICS Cornwall; 

BASICS Devon; BASICS North 

Staffordshire; BEEP, Penrith area; 

BRAVO Medics, Bristol area; East 

Midlands Immediate Care scheme, 

(EMICS); LIVES in Lincolnshire; 

MAGPAS in Mid Anglia; West 

Midlands Care Team and West 

Yorkshire Medic Response Team. 

A further round of grants from this 

years’ funding will be made in the 

new year to distribute the rest of 

the monies from the donation. 

When presenting the £250,000 

cheque, Robert Bertram, Chief 

Executive of the HELP Appeal, 

which also funds NHS hospital 

helipads said: 

“It’s a pleasure to make this 

second donation to the British 

Association for Immediate Care, 

knowing the huge difference 

our first one made - from brand 

new rapid response vehicles to 

safety equipment that would help 

the selfless BASICS’ volunteers 

Suffolk Accident and Rescue Service’s new rapid response vehicle, along with staff after it received £40,000 

to help buy the car, from the HELP Appeal’s £250,000 grant in 2019. 


For the latest Ambulance Service News visit: www.ambulancenewsdesk.com 

193

NEWSLINE 

The report also shows that 

Benzodiazepines, 

“2020 has proven to be a 


Drug deaths highest 

since records began 

Experts slam budget cuts to 

treatment services and rise in 

death toll “not a coincidence” 

• 1 in 5 of drug deaths intentional 

• Figures reveal stark North- 

South divide 

• Deaths from prescribed drugs 

rocket to 40% 

• Cocaine deaths rise for eighth 

consecutive year 

The number of deaths related 

to drug poisoning last year has 

reached the highest number since 

records began back in 1993, the 

Office for National Statistics has 

revealed this morning. 

4,393 drug related deaths were 

registered in 2019 in England and 

Wales, equivalent to an agestandardised 

mortality rate of 76.7 

deaths per million people. 

Detailed analysis of ONS data by 

drug addiction treatment experts 

UKAT shows a 52% rise in drug 

poisoning deaths in the last ten 

years and a 17% rise in just three 

years. 

Although the majority of deaths 

were recorded as accidental, 

UKAT’s analysis reveals that 1 in 

5 of all drug poisoning deaths in 

2019 were in fact intentional. 

Males accounted for two-thirds (or 

2,968) of drug poisoning deaths last 

year. 3% of men who died suffered 

from a mental and behavioural 

disorder due to drug use. 

The North East had a statistically 

significantly higher rate of deaths 

relating to drug misuse than all 

other English regions; 95 deaths 

per million people. The East of 

England had the lowest rate; 33.6 

deaths per million people. Today’s 

ONS report marks a stark and 

frightening north-south divide. 

working age people living 

in the most deprived areas 

of Wales have significantly 

higher mortality rates from 

drug poisoning. People aged 

between 40 and 49 years had 

the highest age-specific rate of 

drug poisoning (374.3 deaths 

per million), nearly seven times 

higher than the rate in the least 

deprived quintile (53.8 deaths 

per million). 

Almost half (49.2%) of all drug 

related deaths involved opiates 

such as Heroin and Morphine. 

Prescribed opioids such 

as Tramadol, Codeine, 

Dihydrocodeine accounted for 

10% (470) of all drug related 

deaths last year according 

to UKAT’s analysis; drugs 

prescribed to patients by their 

GPs. 

Similarly, antidepressants, 

also prescribed by GPs, also 

account for 10% of all drug 

deaths last year (443), up by 

16% in just 9 years (from 393). 

In 2019, there were 140 deaths 

from the drug Zopiclone - used 

to treat insomnia, a figure which 

has risen from just 79 deaths a 

decade ago. 

Benzodiazepines, sometimes 

called “benzos”, are a class 

of psychoactive drugs used to 

sedate the body and help treat 

anxiety. Familiar drugs within 

the Benzo family include Valium 

and Xanax. UKAT’s analysis 

of today’s report reveals that 

deaths from Benzodiazepines 

accounted for 9% of all dug 

deaths last year, up from 5% ten 

years ago. 

Collectively, UKAT’s analysis 

of the ONS data shows that for 

the types of drugs that can be 

prescribed by GPs - Tramadol, 

Codeine, Dihydrocodeine, 

Antidepressants, Zopiclone, 

Antipsychotics and even 

Paracetamol - the death count 

in 2019 stood at 1,805; 40% of 

all drug deaths registered last 

year. This is significantly higher 

than the collective number of 

deaths from the same drugs ten 

years ago, 1,360. 

Their analysis also shows that 

the number of deaths from 

illegal drugs such as Cannabis 

in 2019 are the highest on 

record at 31 deaths last year, 

compared to 22 in 2018 and 

just 7 in 2011- a rise of over 

300% in just 8 years. 

The most concerning rise is 

for drugs relating to Cocaine. 

Cocaine deaths rose for the 

eighth consecutive year to their 

highest level- accounting for 

16% of all deaths last year. 

UKAT’s analysis shows that 

drug poisoning deaths involving 

Cocaine increased 26.5% for 

females and 7.7% for males 

between 2018 and 2019. 

Nuno Albuquerque, Group 

Treatment Lead for the drug 

addiction treatment experts 

UKAT (www.ukat.co.uk) 

comments; 

“These ONS figures are 

saddening but unsurprising 

and clearly show, in black and 

white, that the problem isn’t 

going away, and it’s not getting 

any better. The figures show 

that more and more people are 

dying from drugs that can be 

prescribed by their GPs, proving 

that the drug problem in this 

country is not just one of illegal 

substance misuse. 

“We must remember that these 

aren’t just numbers; they’re 

someone’s mother, father, child 

or friend and we can’t stress 

enough the value of investing in 

the treatment of addiction. 

difficult year for many. Some will 

undoubtedly turn to misusing 

drugs as a coping mechanism. 

Our fear is that these figures 

could tip off the scale in next 

year’s report unless Councils 

take proactive, preventative 

action today in the investment 

of drug and alcohol treatment 

services in order to save lives. 

“We’ve already highlighted the 

drastic reduction in budget cuts 

to substance misuse services 

every year since 2013 and 

unfortunately, these figures now 

show the impact this is having 

on the most vulnerable people 

living in society. It is not a 

coincidence.” 

Help, information and support 

for drug misuse can be found at 

www.ukat.co.uk/drugs/v58/ 

World Stroke Day 

raises alarm for 

‘second wave’ of 

pandemic stroke 

patients 

New statistics from the Stroke 

Association reveal that almost 

one in three (29%) stroke 

survivors who had a stroke 

during the pandemic delayed 

seeking emergency medical 

attention due to Covid-19. 

(1) 

This World Stroke Day, 

Thursday 29th October, 

the charity is asking all UK 

governments to commit 

to investing in Act FAST 

public health messaging in 

preparation for any surges in 

Covid-19 cases. 

Act FAST is one of the UK’s 

most successful public health 

campaigns and has motivated 

people to treat stroke as a 

medical emergency and call 999 

when they see the signs and 

symptoms of a stroke. 

194 


NEWSLINE 

Every year there are 100,000 

strokes across the UK (2) . 

Dr David Hargroves, Consultant 

Stroke Physician and Clinical 

lead for Stroke across East Kent 

Hospitals said: “A stroke is a 

life-threatening condition and 

a mini-stroke is a warning sign 

that a major stroke is likely. By 

acting FAST you can save lives. 

Remember, Face – is their face 

drooping on one side? Arms – 

can they lift them? Speech – is 

their speech slurred? If you spot 

any one of these symptoms then 

it’s Time to call 999. The quicker 

your loved one receives the right 

specialist treatment the better 

their chances of avoiding longterm 

disability or death. 

“I’d like to reassure people that 

our specialist stroke units are 

equipped and ready to treat 

stroke patients. So the best thing 

you can do if you see someone 

showing the signs of a stroke, is 

to call 999 immediately.” 

As the UK deals with a second 

wave of the pandemic, the 

charity is highlighting some 

impacts that Covid-19 has 

already had on public health and 

behaviours: 

• In the UK, attendances to 

Emergency Departments were 

significantly lower. Between 

April and June 2020 hospital 

attendances to Emergency 

Departments almost halved 

(44.7%) when compared 

to April to June 2019. This 

suggests that there are some 

people with potentially life 

threatening conditions who 

are risking their lives by not 

going to the Emergency 

Departments. (3-6) 

• Admissions to hospital stroke 

units in England, Wales and 

Northern Ireland continued to 

remain down. From 23 March 

to 30 June there were a total of 

19,106 stroke admissions. This 

is a 10.6% (21,379) drop from 

1 January to 31 March 2020 

and a 13.4% (22,068) drop 

compared to the same time 

(April to Jun 2019) last year. (7) 

• Stroke deaths in care homes 

were 39% higher than the fiveyear 

average in England and 

Wales, and stroke deaths in 

private homes doubled (52%), 

during the Covid-19 surge 

from mid-March until May. (8) 

• Despite being most at risk, 

a third of over 65s said 

they were likely to put off 

calling 999 for non-Covid life 

threatening conditions. (9) 

As new local restrictions continue 

to be announced and fears 

around contracting Covid-19 

mount, the Stroke Association is 

urging the public to treat stroke 

as the life-threatening condition 

it is. 

Juliet Bouverie, Chief Executive 

of the Stroke Association says: 

“We heard from stroke clinicians 

in the first wave that as the 

number of reported Covid-19 

cases went up, the number of 

people presenting at A&E with 

stroke dropped considerably. 

Strokes haven’t stopped 

happening, which means that 

people are in danger of dying 

at home, and not getting the 

treatment they need to prevent 

long-term disability. As we 

prepare for winter along with the 

recent increases of Covid-19 

cases, we want to ensure 

that anybody experiencing or 

witnessing any stroke symptoms 

dials 999. Stroke is a lifethreatening, 

medical emergency 

and time lost is brain lost. The 

quicker you act the more of a 

person you are likely to save, 

giving them hope of a better 

recovery. 

“This World Stroke Day we’re 

living and adapting to a new 

normal across the globe, just like 

thousands of stroke survivors 

do on a daily basis. As new 

lockdown restrictions are put in 

to place across different areas 

around the UK, everybody needs 

to know the signs of a stroke 

by using the FAST test (Face 

Arms Speech Time to call 999). 

A stroke can strike anyone at 

any time. It could happen to you 

or someone you love, so as a 

community let’s not forget those 

people who may be living alone. 

The NHS remains open and 

equipped to treat stroke patients. 

It’s vital that anybody who may 

be having a stroke is given the 

best chance of recovery because 

you acted FAST.” 

Symptoms such as facial 

drooping, arm weakness and 

speech difficulties are the most 

common, (but not exclusive), 

signs of a stroke. The signs of 

a TIA/mini-stroke are the same 

as a stroke, but leave within 24 

hours. A TIA/mini-stroke is a sign 

that a full stroke could be on the 

way. 

Other signs of stroke can 

include: 

• Sudden weakness or 

numbness on one side of the 

body, including legs, hands or 

feet. 

• Difficulty finding words or 

speaking in clear sentences. 

• Sudden blurred vision or loss 

of sight in one or both eyes. 

• Sudden memory loss or 

confusion, and dizziness or a 

sudden fall. 

• A sudden, severe headache. 

If you spot any one of these 

signs of a stroke, don’t wait. Call 

999 straight away. 

For more information about 

stroke and the Act FAST 

campaign go to www.stroke. 

org.uk/fast. 

References 

1. Stroke Recoveries at Risk 

Report. Stroke Association 

2020. 

2. Stroke Statistics, Stroke 

Association 2020; https://www. 

stroke.org.uk/what-is-stroke/ 

stroke-statistics 

3. England: Gov.uk; Emergency 

department: weekly bulletins 

for 2020: https://www.gov. 

uk/government/publications/ 

emergency-departmentweekly-bulletins-for-2020 

4. Scotland: ISDA Scotland; NHS 

Performs - weekly update of 

emergency department activity 

and waiting time statistics: 

https://beta.isdscotland.org/ 

find-publications-and-data/ 

health-services/hospital-care/ 

nhs-performs-weekly-updateof-emergency-departmentactivity-and-waiting-timestatistics/ 

5. Wales: StatsWales; Number 

of attendances in NHS Wales 

accident and emergency 

departments by age band, sex 

and site: https://statswales. 

gov.wales/Catalogue/ 

Health-and-Social-Care/ 

NHS-Hospital-Waiting-Times/ 

Accident-and-Emergency/ 

accidentemergencyattendancesby-age-sex-site 

6. Northern Ireland: Department 

of Health; Emergency Care 

Waiting Times: https://www. 

health-ni.gov.uk/sites/default/ 

files/publications/health/hsniwts-ecwt-data-q1-20-21. 

html#all-types 

7. Sentinel Stroke National 

Audit Programme (SSNAP) 

clinical audit data: https:// 

www.strokeaudit.org/results/ 

Clinical-audit/National- 

Results.aspx 

8. Office of National Statistics 

(ONS); Analysis of death 

registrations not involving 

coronavirus (COVID-19), 

England and Wales: 28 

December 2019 to 1 May 

2020. 

9. Taken from market research 

specialists, Eden Stanley, 

based on their monthly 

survey of 1,000 respondents 

conducted 1 – 31 May 2020. 



195

NEWSLINE 


New way of giving lifesaving 

drug will help 

frontline responders 

save the lives of 

trauma victims 

Intramuscular tranexamic acid 

injection could mean more 

patients treated in the ‘golden 

hour’ 

A life-saving treatment for 

bleeding trauma victims, 

tranexamic acid (TXA), can now 

be given by a simple injection at 

the scene of the injury, according 

to a new study in British Journal of 

Anaesthesia. 

TXA, a drug that prevents severe 

bleeding after injury by inhibiting 

blood clot breakdown, is most 

effective when given soon after 

injury. Every 15 minutes treatment 

delay reduces its lifesaving potential 

by 10%. However, currently only 3% 

of UK trauma victims get TXA within 

an hour of injury. 

The drug is usually given by 

intravenous injection (IV) but 

securing an intravenous line can 

take time and the drug has to be 

injected slowly. This new research, 

led by the London School of 

Hygiene & Tropical Medicine 

(LSHTM) with partners including 

The Royal London Hospital and 

St George’s Hospital, shows 

that TXA can also be given by 

intramuscular injection (IM), just 

like a flu jab, which requires less 

training and takes less time. They 

found that the drug is rapidly 

absorbed from muscles and there 

were no local adverse effects. 

This means TXA can be given 

by first responders, greatly 

expanding access to urgent 

treatment. This could improve 

trauma care around the world, 

especially in low- and middleincome 

countries where most 

trauma deaths occur. 

Dr Ian Roberts from LSHTM who 

led the study said: “An urgent 

injection of TXA is life-saving after 

serious injury but patients are 

not being treated fast enough. 

A rapid intramuscular injection 

given by first responders or 

paramedics could mean the 

difference between life and 

death. Intramuscular TXA is like a 

vaccine against trauma death.” 

Every year, around five million 

people worldwide die from 

injuries. More than 90% of trauma 

deaths occurring in low- and 

middle-income countries, and up 

to 80% of deaths occurring prior 

to hospital arrival. Tranexamic 

acid is the only proven lifesaving 

treatment. 

Previously work by a global 

collaboration led by LSHTM 

showed that TXA can reduce 

deaths in injury victims by up to 

one third provided that it is given 

promptly. 

In this study, 30 bleeding trauma 

patients admitted into two UK 

trauma hospitals were given the 

first dose of TXA intravenously, 

as per guidelines, but the second 

dose by IM injection. The team 

then collected blood samples, 

monitored injection sites and 

measured TXA concentrations. 

The team found that intramuscular 

TXA is well tolerated with only 

mild and transient injection site 

reactions – some redness and 

transient swelling - nothing else. 

Importantly, TXA was rapidly 

absorbed from muscle reaching 

the levels needed to save lives 

within 15 minutes even in the 

sickest patients. 

Dr Ian Roberts said: “The fact TXA 

can be given by intramuscular 

injection could be a gamechanger 

for increasing the survival 

chances of trauma victims. 

A simple auto injector device 

that could be used by lay first 

responders or police officers - 

before the ambulance arrives 

- could save thousands of lives 

each year. It could also be used 

by wounded soldiers either on 

themselves or a buddy.” 

The research team is now working 

with the British military on an 

autoinjector for battlefield use. 

The authors acknowledge that this 

would need proper field testing 

before adoption. 

SECAMB 

Sussex couple 

thank quick-thinking 

ambulance crew 

A couple from Felpham, West 

Sussex, have praised the 

actions of a South East Coast 

Ambulance (SECAmb) crew 

who came to the aid of their 

three-year-old son. 

Mum, Amy Hickling and dad Ian 

Cole, have thanked friend and 

neighbour, paramedic Steve 

Leggatt and his crew mate Keith 

Roskilly for the quick treatment they 

provided to son Mason, after he 

suffered a severe allergic reaction. 

Police officer, Amy and sales 

manager Ian were at home eating 

dinner with Mason on 18 August 

when his face, lips and tongue 

became swollen and his breathing 

laboured after he ate some curry 

and mango chutney. 

Looking for some initial 

advice, the couple phoned 

Steve. Realising the potential 

seriousness of the situation, he 

called into the control room and 

requested he and Keith, who were 

by chance on shift in the area, be 

diverted from a lower priority call. 

Arriving at the family’s home in 

less than two minutes, the pair 

could see they were going to 

have to act swiftly. In that short 

time, Mason was now struggling 

to breath and needed urgent 

treatment. 

“We were very aware of how 

serious the situation was,” said 

Steve. “En route, with Keith 

driving, I was thinking ahead to 

what the likely course of action 

would be. I remember hearing 

Mason struggling to breath as we 

entered the house.” 

Steve and Keith placed Mason on 

a nebuliser and administered anti 

anaphylactic drugs to stabilise 

him. “The initial treatment worked 

in that Mason’s condition settled 

to an extent,” explained Steve. 

“But we knew that it was still 

vital that he received hospital 

treatment.” 

Mason thankfully continued to 

recover with further treatment and 

an overnight stay at St Richard’s 

Hospital in Chichester. While he 

had never suffered an allergic 

reaction before, despite eating 

products containing nuts, allergy 

tests have since revealed a severe 

peanut allergy and the family must 

now never leave the house without 

epi pens and antihistamine 

medicine. 

Ian said: “Within minutes Mason 

went from being a bit agitated to 

really starting to swell up. Steve 

said he could hear him over the 

phone and knew he needed 

checking quickly. They were with 

us so quickly and if it had been 

five or 10 minutes later I think we 

would have been in real trouble. 

We’re just so thankful and feel 

extremely lucky. There are no 

words to describe how grateful we 

are to both Steve and Keith.” 

Amy added: “Working for an 

emergency service myself I 

appreciate that there can often 

be little recognition for amazing 

work and in this case, life-saving 

work. As a family we will never be 

able to express our true gratitude 

but we hope to raise awareness 

to others as to how fortunate we 

are to have such brilliant people 

working for SECAmb.” 

196 


NEWSLINE 

NWAS 

North West 

Ambulance Service 

NHS Trust accredited 

as first Veteran 

Aware ambulance 

service. 

Following the week that we paid 

our respects on Remembrance 

Day, we can reveal The North 

West Ambulance Service NHS 

Trust (NWAS) has become the 

first Veteran Aware ambulance 

service. 

The Veterans Covenant 

Healthcare Alliance (VCHA) has 

given us this accolade as we are 

leading the way in improving NHS 

care for members of the armed 

forces community. 

NWAS will deliver care in line 

with the NHS commitment to the 

Armed Forces Covenant, ensuring 

that the armed forces community 

does not face disadvantage. 

Chief Executive, Daren Mochrie, 

said: “This is a real honour for 

NWAS. Ambulance trusts have 

only just become eligible to 

apply, and NWAS’ close working 

partnership with our armed 

forces has stood us in good 

stead. The recognition means 

that we have demonstrated that 

NWAS supports the armed forces 

community as an employer, 

and we also ensure that 

veterans, reservists and cadet 

force adult volunteers plus any 

other members of the armed 

forces community amongst our 

workforce are looked after, and 

that we have good links with 

other local services and service 

charities.” 

The VCHA was inspired by the 

heroism of Captain Noel Godfrey 

Chavasse VC, a doctor who 

gave his life rescuing men on the 

battlefields of the First World War. 

In 2014, orthopaedic surgeon 

Professor Tim Briggs CBE 

wrote The Chavasse Report on 

improving armed forces and 

veteran care while raising NHS 

standards and establishing a 

support network of hospitals was 

one of its recommendations. The 

resulting VCHA works closely 

with the Department of Health 

and Social Care, NHS England 

and Improvement, the Ministry of 

Defence, the Office for Veterans 

Affairs and service charities. 

NWAS is one of four trusts that 

have achieved the Veteran 

Aware accreditation in the last 

couple of weeks and brings the 

total number of Veteran Aware 

providers across the UK to 58. 

Professor Briggs, Chair of GIRFT, 

NHS National Director for Clinical 

Improvement and Chair of the 

VCHA, said: “I’m very proud to 

welcome four more NHS trusts to 

the Veterans Covenant Healthcare 

Alliance. They have all made a 

clear and important commitment 

to the servicemen and women of 

this country and their families, and 

it’s great to be able to recognise 

their hard work through this 

accreditation.” 

“I am particularly delighted to 

announce the accreditation of our 

first Veteran Aware ambulance 

service, which is setting an 

excellent example to other 

ambulance services to follow. 

Several other ambulance services 

are already well underway to 

becoming accredited as Veteran 

Aware.” 

SCAS 

Online exhibition by 

SCAS paramedic 

documents 

emergency care in 

the time of Covid-19 

South Central Ambulance 

Service NHS Foundation 

Trust (SCAS) Paramedic and 

Photographer, Emma Williams, 

has launched an online gallery 

of a project she undertook 

in Summer 2020 to capture 

what it was like delivering 

emergency ambulance care in 

the COVID-19 era. 

Emma, who has worked for first 

Oxfordshire Ambulance Service 

and then SCAS for 26years, 

qualified as a paramedic in 2000 

having started her career in the 

emergency operations control 

room. She began to take her 

photography seriously around 

eight years ago and is completely 

self-taught. 

“These were extraordinary times 

as the first wave of COVID-19 

arrived in the UK and as a 

photographer as well as a 

paramedic, I wanted to preserve 

forever this snapshot of what 

it was like continuing to deliver 

compassionate, high-quality 

emergency care whilst making 

sure both we and our patients 

stayed safe from this terrible 

virus. A heartfelt thank you to 

the patients and colleagues who 

allowed me to share their stories. 

”With galleries and other cultural 

institutions closed, it is fitting 

that Emma’s work is being 

released online to a global 

audience. She has developed a 

distinctive, cinematic style to her 

photography which comes from 

her use of a Canon 5D camera 

combined with a freelensing 

approach – a method of shooting 

with the lens not physically 

attached to the camera. 

The online gallery is available at 

www.scas.nhs.uk/emergencyambulance-care-covid/and 

the work was shot across 

Oxfordshire in Summer 2020. It 

features a range of medical and 

other emergencies that SCAS 

responded to involving patients 

from the very young to the elderly. 

Emma, in her own time, joined 

© Emma Williams / Instagram: @lightgreen_emma 

colleagues on their operational 

ambulance shifts and all patients 

and staff seen in the gallery 

consented to be photographed. 

Emma, who is based at the 

Trust’s Adderbury Resource 

Centre in Oxfordshire, is hoping to 

undertake a similar project across 

the Trust’s 999, NHS 111, patient 

transport and corporate services 

over the next few months. 

Her work can also be viewed on 

Instagram @lightgreen_emma 


For the latest Ambulance Service News visit: www.ambulancenewsdesk.com 

197

IN PERSON 


News 

Air Ambulances UK 

Welcomes New Board 

Members 

The Board of Trustees of national charity Air 

Ambulances UK is delighted to announce 

two new Board appointments after a 

competitive recruitment process. 

Claire Walters and Matthew Williams joined 

the Charity on 1st October 2020, bringing with 

them a wealth of experience to compliment 

the already broad representation of skills, 

backgrounds and knowledge of the existing 

Board. 

They join the Charity at an exciting time, as it 

embarks on a new era following merger with 

the former professional body, the Association 

of Air Ambulances, early this year; forming one 

national organisation to represent, champion 

and support the UK’s 21 air ambulance 

charities. 

Claire Walters is Chief Commercial Offi cer for 

Unipart Logistics, responsible for business 

development, marketing, strategy, leadership 

of customer partnerships, digital innovation, 

consultancy, and programme delivery across 

Technology, Automotive, Health, Consumer 

and Utilities customers in the UK, US and Asia 

Pacifi c. She brings a diversity of experience to 

the Board as well as personal experience of an 

air ambulance after being airlifted by Cornwall 

Air Ambulance following a traumatic cycling 

accident last summer. 

Matthew Williams is a Junior Doctor based 

in South Wales with a keen interest in prehospital 

emergency medicine, stemming from 

his emergency medicine speciality training. 

He is currently completing his master’s in 

healthcare leadership and has previous 

governance experience as Chair of national 

charity Sexpression. 

Heather Benjamin, Air Ambulances UK Chair, 

said: “I am delighted that we have Claire and 

Matthew joining our Board, as we take forward 

the organisation in this pivotal time in our 

development. They bring a complimentary 

set of skills to the current Board members 

with their commercial, clinical, digital and 

fundraising experience. Claire and Matthew’s 

professional experience and personal traits will 

provide board leadership, with an emphasis 

on their compassionate and collaborative 

approach, which we have been developing as 

part of our values and approach with our air 

ambulance charity Members.” 

EEAST News 

Queen’s award for longserving 

clinician 

A long-serving clinician with the East of 

England Ambulance Service NHS Trust 

(EEAST) has spoken of his pride at being 

awarded the Queen’s Ambulance Service 

Medal (QAM) for the dedication he has 

shown to patient care during a career 

spanning nearly 40 years. 

Paul Henry, Deputy Director of Operations 

Support with EEAST, has been given the 

accolade in the Queen’s Birthday Honours 

list. It comes in recognition of the hard work 

and dedication he has shown to caring for 

patients and helping train the next generation 

of paramedics over nearly four decades. 

The announcement was made on Saturday 

(10 October) – exactly 37 years after Paul, who 

lives in Norwich, joined the NHS on 10 October 

1983. 

Paul started his career with Norfolk Ambulance 

Service and went on to become one of the 

county’s fi rst paramedics in 1987 before taking 

responsibility for the training and development 

of all of ambulance staff in Norfolk four years’ 

later. 

His dedication to patients, colleagues and 

his profession was recognised in 2000 when 

he became one of the fi rst paramedics to 

join the board of the Council for Professions 

Supplementary to Medicine, where he 

helped develop regulatory procedures for the 

profession. 

Since then, Paul has gone onto hold a variety 

of senior operational and management roles 

with EEAST, as well as taking responsibility 

for a range of major projects. These include 

developing business continuity plans to help 

mitigate the threat of the millennium bug and 

driving extensive infrastructure improvements, 

such as introducing new make ready services 

and new fl eet of ambulances over the past 

year. 

“I was absolutely delighted to hear the news – 

it was such a lovely surprise,” said Paul. “There 

are so many people in the ambulance service 

who are deserving of an award, so to be 

honoured in this way is absolutely fantastic. 

“I have fulfi lled many varied roles during nearly 

40 years with the service, including clinical 

and operational positions, as well as roles in 

training and support services. This has given 

me a signifi cant insight into the way nearly 

every departments works, which has stood me 

in good stead throughout my career. 

“I am particularly proud of my ability to 

shape positive change and keep pace with 

developments in the wider service while 

always making sure I am ready for the next 

challenge.” 

Marcus Bailey, Chief Operating Offi cer with 

EEAST, said: “We are delighted for Paul and 

incredibly proud that he has been awarded this 

well-deserved accolade. 

“He has dedicated 37 years to the ambulance 

service, during which time he has devoted 

his energy and ability to serving patients and 

helping the Trust to progress and ensure it is 

prepared to meet future demands. 

“On behalf of everyone at EEAST, I would like 

to congratulate Paul on everything he has 

achieved during his career and thank him for 

his hard work and dedication.” 

198 


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Ambulance UK December 2020

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