Medical advisor for GWAS in Bristol plans for better pre-hospital service

Jonathan Benger is a busy man. He is an A&E consultant at the Bristol Royal Infirmary, involved in training and research at the University of the West of England and is the medical advisor for air operations at Great Western Ambulance Service, attending emergencies with the Filton-based crew.

But for Jonathan the different roles work well together.

"It works because there is a synergy. It all seems to be part of the same thing, part of an integrated whole," he said.

Jonathan was appointed to his role within the Great Western Ambulance Service (GWAS) in August last year, as part of the project to set up a helicopter team for the former Avon area.

He flies with the Great Western Air Ambulance (GWAA) and is in charge of training and maintaining clinical standards within the unit, as well as a review of helicopter cover across the whole of the ambulance service's patch.

GWAA does not receive statutory funding and relies on its dedicated charity to raise the £1.3 million needed to keep the helicopter flying and sending emergency department care to the scene.

Jonathan is passionate about providing pre-hospital care, and believes it is important to have the ability to take extra care out to patients when they need them.

He said: "For the majority of patients, the care they receive from the general ambulance service meets their needs and they are achieving a very high standard of care, but there is a small number of patients who would benefit from additional skills.

"We see patients brought into A&E where, if additional skills were available to the patient, it would be beneficial to them and there is no reason why these cannot be provided."

Jonathan has previously worked on other air ambulance services, including the London Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS) and in Scandinavia.

He is keen for people to know that "all air ambulances are not the same", with the majority operating more like land ambulances, but heading to harder-to-reach locations, picking up patients and packaging them ready to transport them to hospital.

"It is about making sure that we configure the service so that the right ambulance can reach everybody at the right time," he said.

Jonathan has been impressed by the way GWAA has developed.

"It has gone extremely well, if you look at what we have achieved, we have got an effective helicopter service that is delivering high quality, first class, pre-hospital care and realising the ambition of bringing the hospital to the patient."

Jonathan is looking to the future and the possibility of integrating more doctors into ambulance care where possible, on a more routine basis, rather than consultants