Sky’s the limit for medics (From Borehamwood Times)

Sky’s the limit for medics

8:20am Tuesday 13th January 2009

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The first air ambulance in Hertfordshire took to the skies in November after a tremendous fundraising effort. Reporter Michael Pickard went to meet the team that could save your life.

If you dialled 999 and asked for an ambulance before November 10, one would have come to your aid wherever you were.

Since that date, that same ambulance will still respond, but one thing has changed.

When before paramedics would sometimes struggle to reach casualties stranded in remote locations, Hertfordshire now has its own air ambulance to call on.

From North Weald airfield across the Essex border, where the crew share their office with Weald Aviation Services, a red and white MD902 Explorer helicopter takes off within four minutes of receiving an emergency call.

Travelling at speeds of up to 140 knots (about 150 miles per hour), the air ambulance brings vital, life-saving hospital treatment to any location in Hertfordshire within 15 minutes.

And once on board, the pilot will fly patients not to the nearest hospital but to the most appropriate depending on their injuries.

Helicopter pilot David Kerr-Sheppard, 48, joined the Royal Air Force when he was 17, and qualified as a pilot. He spent 25 years flying the RAF search and rescue helicopter and was commanding officer for the search and rescue squadron covering the whole of southern England.

In September, Mr Kerr-Sheppard joined Medical Aviation Services, which provides the air ambulance.

“It’s proper seat-of-your-pants flying,” he said when asked asked about the difference between flying a helicopter and a plane.

“A helicopter is by its very nature unstable. If you did nothing, it would fall out of the sky. It’s hands-on flying and helicopters are very versatile.”

Sitting alongside Mr Kerr-Sheppard are paramedic Chris Martin, 30, and doctor Maria Smith, 38.

Mr Martin has worked for the Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire ambulance service for nine years, and as a paramedic for the past five years. Last year he qualified as an emergency care practitioner (ECP) and now splits his time between hospital and the air ambulance.

Dr Smith has already built up considerable flight time with the Cambridgeshire air ambulance. She trained as an A&E consultant and has been a doctor for ten years.

More recently, Dr Smith became interested in pre-hospital care and found the best way to get the skills she wanted was by joining the air ambulance.

She said: “We try to bring A&E to the patient. The service offered in A&E, we can offer at the roadside.

“It’s getting the patient from the very first moments, working out what’s wrong with them and starting a treatment plan. Doing that from scratch is very different and that’s what I enjoy about it.”

The team’s day starts at 7am, when Mr Kerr-Sheppard and Dr Smith arrive at the airfield.

He inspects the weather forecasts and services the helicopter, while she checks the medical equipment in their 20kg backpacks. At about 8am, by which time Mr Martin has arrived, they have a briefing before declaring themselves on duty.

If there is low cloud or poor visability, or if conditions are extremely cold and wet, the helicopter will not fly.

In between emergency calls, there are administration duties and training to be completed.

Then when there is an emergency, ambulance control will call the base.

Mr Kerr-Sheppard said: “The first thing I will do is see where it is, what sort of airspace we need to go through and straight away I will go to the aircraft and start it. We also might need more fuel or equipment.”

Four minutes after the call, they are off the ground.

“So far we’ve had calls about falls off ladders and through a roof at a factory, people being kicked by horses, cardiac arrests and motorway accidents,” Mr Kerr-Sheppard said.

It is his job to find a suitable landing site, where the helicopter can sit and wait while the doctor and paramedic tend to the patient.

Mr Kerr-Sheppard said: “If they need extra kit, I will help them and also prepare the stretcher in the aircraft. Then once everyone is loaded, off we go.

“Most hospitals have a landing pad or field somewhere nearby where they are transferred to an ambulance and taken to A&E. The medical guys go into hospital to do the handover. They bring all the equipment back, reload the aircraft and we come home.”

Mr Kerr-Sheppard said there is a greater level of teamwork needed with air ambulance, and he is enjoying the variety and new skills. “With Hertfordshire being quite a rural area, land ambulances can struggle to get to some locations. It’s another resource to call on that will make patient care better. Ultimately, that’s what really matters.”

To fund the air ambulance, residents raised more than £250,000 and now the Essex and Hertfordshire Air Ambulance Trust must find a further £80,000 each month to maintain the service.

It runs five days a week and is not supported by Government grants or lottery funding.

People can also enter the weekly Flight for Life lottery, which gives players the chance to win £1,000.

For more information about the Hertfordshire Air Ambulance, telephone 0845 2417690 or visit hertsairambulance.uk.com.

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