Medical

No one plans for a two-year pandemic

The emergency services are used to working with emergency planners in local authorities but during the pandemic, the work of the NHS emergency planning team was brought into sharp relief as the country reeled from Covid. I talk to the man in charge to find out more. In the last issue, I reviewed Professor Lucy… Read more »

Research shows critical role of the helicopter emergency medical service in the COVID-19 response

Research by Air Ambulance Charity Kent Surrey Sussex (KSS) and the University of Surrey demonstrates the critical role of the Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS) and South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SECAmb) played at the frontline of the COVID-19 response. Alongside its primary service of providing 24/7 pre-hospital emergency care for the… Read more »

Stop the bleed – how better access to bleed kits can help emergency responders save more lives

The UK Government has released data highlighting that over 41,000 knife crime offences occurred in 2020-21, of which 224 were homicides1. A penetrating injury from a knife can often lead to major bleeding, with haemorrhage being cited as the leading cause of death following a stabbing. This statistic emphasises the need for the public to… Read more »

BlueLight Commercial launches healthcare in custody police tenders

BlueLight Commercial, in collaboration with 13 police forces, has announced the launch of seven new tenders over the next four months, for the provision of healthcare services in custody. These latest tenders have an estimated contract value of £36m, over an average five-year contract term. The 43 police forces of England and Wales, spend approximately… Read more »

London’s Air Ambulance Charity has built its own app that saves time – and helps its medics save lives

Medics at London’s Air Ambulance Charity only deal in life and death situations. Their helicopter and rapid response cars take an advanced trauma team to patients in the capital needing emergency medical treatment and who are unlikely to survive the journey to hospital. London’s Air Ambulance brings the hospital to the scene to deliver urgent… Read more »

Unique trolley designed for neo-natal transport service

Paraid (a division of Evac+Chair International), a specialist in patient transportation, has designed a unique trolley to enable the road carriage and loading of a customised incubator system, used for the air transport of newborn babies who require emergency care. Three years in development, the Elevating Transporter+ (ET+), was required to meet an exact set… Read more »

Paramedic programme offers vocational pathway to the front line

April saw the completion of the first ever HCPC-approved paramedic programme by a Qualsafe Awards approved centre, Medipro, with 14 successful candidates eligible to become HCPC-registered paramedics – several of whom have already gained their registration number and made their way to the front line. Qualsafe Awards and Medipro have been working on this award… Read more »