In order to help support the fight against Covid-19, a number of our Specialist Critical Care Paramedics are to work shifts at University Hospital Southampton. Our Specialist Paramedics, who are highly trained and have skill sets which complement the emergency department’s clinical workforce, have been working alongside their doctor and nurse colleagues in the emergency department to ensure a robust response to any surge in attendances to the ED.
Our CEO, Alex Lochrane, comments:
“Like all Air Ambulances we have a vital role to play in our communities, and particularly in response to, the current pandemic. We are looking at collaborative and innovative ways to continue delivering our advanced clinical skills to patients where and when they need us most and I am immensely proud of our specialist critical care paramedics who have chosen to support their NHS colleagues in this way.”
In addition to the paramedics, the doctors who normally work on board the Air Ambulance are ramping up their shifts as emergency department consultants and anaesthetists in hospitals across the south, remaining on the front line of providing care to critically ill patients in hospital.
In the meantime, our crew members continue to respond to critically ill patients across the region with both the Air Ambulance and emergency response vehicles remaining operational seven days a week, day and night. Last week, we responded to fifteen emergencies: eleven in the Air Ambulance and four in the emergency response vehicles. Full personal protective equipment (PPE) has been made available to our teams of doctors and specialist critical care paramedics in order to ensure the highest standards of safety when they arrive at the scene of an incident.
With face to face fundraising activities postponed for the foreseeable future, we are dependent upon the generosity of the public to keep our life-saving service operational throughout the current pandemic and beyond.
Alex Lochrane adds:
“Thanks to the amazing generosity of our communities over many years, we have been able to gear up and respond to this crisis. We are an independent charity, however, and every donation that we receive helps us to keep our service operational and allows us to be there for those who need us most, not just during these exceptionally challenging times, but: always.”
