The co-location of SCAA’s Helimed 79 with the Scottish Ambulance Servcie’s ScotSTAR North Team at Aberdeen Airport has resulted in a life-saving partnership that has seen advanced critical care delivered to the scene of countless accidents and medical emergencies.
Since the launch of SCAA’s second helicopter in 2020, the Emergency Medical Retrieval Service (EMRS) has been able to utilise the airborne platform, and its highly experienced crew members to deliver doctor-led specialisms across the North of Scotland .
SCAA’s Helimed 76 helicopter, based at Perth, along with the Scottish Ambulance Service’s helicopters and aeroplanes, also support EMRS Teams from other Scottish bases when required, enhancing the team at the scene and providing the best possible care for patients.
During the past year, SCAA’s Helimed 79 and 76 aircraft deployed with an EMRS team on 142 occasions during what would prove the charity’s busiest year to date.
These partnership missions accounted for more than 19 per cent of all SCAA take offs and saw the joint working in action at scenes from Orkney to Aberdeen and Skye to Arbroath.
Consultant Dr Shaun McLeod is one of the EMRS critical care team at Aberdeen and a frequent flyer with Helimed 79.
“ScotSTAR North operates out of the Scottish Ambulance Service base at Aberdeen Airport and was established in 2019 as part of the national Scottish Trauma Network” he said. “In 2020, SCAA launched its second air ambulance helicopter – this one located near us at Aberdeen – and we very quickly realised the advantages of working alongside the charity service.”
Shaun detailed that using a helicopter platform to deliver time-critical care allowed the EMRS clinicians speedy access to many jobs that would prove challenging to reach by car. It also allowed them a much wider geographical area of delivery for Critical Care interventions, greater flexibility in delivery of care and a faster retrieval of patients to Major Trauma Centres (MTCs).
“Working with SCAA allows us to deploy as a multi-professional health care team, consisting off a Consultant , Retrieval Practitioner, experienced paramedic and a pilot,” he said. “They bring additional vital skills to each job and a larger team – all with advanced expertise – which proves particularly useful when there are multiple casualties involved.”
Shaun is in no doubt that the joint working has proved a lifesaver time and time again.
“The speed of access and getting teams to the scene of an emergency leads to improved patient outcomes and undoubtedly saves lives,” he said.
The Scottish Ambulance Service second the paramedics for SCAA’s Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS) which already delivers a high level of patient care and clinical expertise, but the charity is quick to acknowledge the critical care provided by EMRS.
Lead Paramedic Claire Allan detailed the advantages of the team’s additional skills set at the emergency scene.
“Over and above the care we bring, the EMRS clinicians offer advanced interventions which can make a real difference at the scene,” she said. “These include the ability to administer advanced pain relief, anaesthesia and decision-making, as well as a number of surgical procedures and blood transfusions.
“If a patient can have that sort of pre-hospital emergency care at the scene as quickly as we can get the team there, then the outcomes can be greatly improved.”
The aim is to have all trauma patients receive Major Trauma care within 45 minutes and EMRS Advanced Retrieval Practitioner Gregor McIntosh explained that this can often be achieved by taking that critical care to the scene.
“That can prove a lifesaver in itself,” said Gregor.
“Going by air gets us there quicker, the patient receives critical interventions quicker and they are in hospital quicker,” he added. “It’s a really crucial, effective and rewarding partnership and the advantages for the patient are extensive.”
This sort of seamless combined care at a scene is honed through daily briefings and joint training at Aberdeen.
“The paramedics have joint pilot briefings and doctor briefings so that we all know exactly what we’re doing in any situation that might arise. These briefings also outline the day’s crew configuration and who does what,” explained Claire.
“We also have regular training sessions, dealing with different emergency scenarios that we might face on a job and combining our skills sets to ensure best patient care.
“This is all important because it makes everyone feels part of the team,” she said.
