Frenchay A&E matron praises air ambulance

The nurse in charge of Frenchay's emergency department believes patients often could not do without the skills of Bristol's air ambulance team.

Juliette Hughes, the matron in charge of the hospital's A&E department often greets the Great Western Air Ambulance (GWAA) crew when they bring patients to Frenchay.

And she told the Bristol Post the work they do to prepare people before they are transferred means many patients spend a minimal amount of time in the A&E before being taken into surgery.

GWAA sends emergency doctors and specialist paramedics to incidents, by helicopter and car, so they can stabilise or treat injured people at the scene before transporting them to the most appropriate hospital for their needs.

They tend to deal with the most serious cases, which are likely to require the expertise of critical care paramedics and A&E doctors. The service was launched in June last year.

Juliette said they tend to bring patients into Frenchay an average of three times a week and that the benefit of their skills is clear.

"The obvious difference is that patients will be pre-hospital stabilised.

"If we get a Great Western team coming in on the helicopter we know the patient will be as stable as possible and they will have done most of the life-saving interventions they could have.

"We get a patient fairly carefully packaged and stabilised prior to transfer whereas some of the other helicopters patients come in and they don't have that.

"Because Great Western are able to stabilise patients prior to flying they are able to make more considered decisions and don't have to just scoop and run to the nearest hospital – they take them to the best place for the patient.

"They often come to us, particularly for burns and head injuries, and we work very closely with the team."

Juliet said the GWAA team can make the difference between how well many patients will cope with their injuries.

"They generally have brought us patients who otherwise would not have survived", she said.

"They tend to be massive head injuries where they have taken over the breathing for them so we can see them into neurosciences.

"We talk about the golden hour from the time of an injury to getting to hospital and starting the best treatment possible.

"Within that time, patients from GWAA will have been stabilised as soon as possible and often their stay in the emergency department will be limited because we are clear where they will be going, whether it is straight to the ITU or theatre, whereas if they come in from a traditional road crew we will need to do lots of things before we can send them on.

"Having that treatment pre-hospital makes a big difference, and with the Great Western crew bringing patients to the right place for the right treatment."

Juliette said there was a good working relationship between the hospital and GWAA because the paramedics spend time in A&E working on their skills and some of the doctors on the helicopter have worked at Frenchay.

The crew will call the A&E department before they start transporting a patient, whether by helicopter or assisting a land ambulance, and Juliette's team will work with the air ambulance crew to meet them.

The GWAA team will stay with the patient during the handover to the hospital staff and will explain exactly what they have already done for them.

Juliette believes GWAA's work makes a difference to patients and believes that if she ever needed such care she would want the services of the team.

"I think the key benefit is the skill of the people on the helicopter", she said.

"The GWAA crew have an anaesthetist or senior consultant doctor on board. If it was me, or one of my kids I would want them because of their skills."

GWAA receives little statutory funding for its work and relies upon fundraising.

As reported in the Bristol Post last week, the team needs to raise at least £100,000 a year to run the helicopter, which will be flying every day from April.