EMICS DOCTOR CALLED TO RTC INVOLVING FOUR OF HIS OWN PATIENTS - A47 BARROWDEN 

Just before 0900hrs on Wednesday 30 Sep 09 an RTC involving an LGV and a car occurred on the A47 Rutland near the Barrowden junction. This resulted in 5 casualties at the scene - 2 of them critically ill with major trauma. Eric on the CFR desk quickly assessed the incoming emergency calls from the scene and dispatched EMAS assets from Oakham and Lincolnshire, an EMICS doctor from the region and HELIMED-53 and HELIMED-54 with two doctors on board.

EMAS and the EMICS doctor, Dr L J Roberts from Rutland, arrived simultaneously at the scene and quickly triaged the 5 patients - 4 from the car and the driver of the LGV. The team set to work with Fire and Rescue Services and Police from Leicestershire to stabilise and treat the casualties. HELMED-54 arrived quickly, joined shortly afterwards by HELIMED-53. The most seriously injured casualty was anaesthetised and intubated at scene by the medical team to aid in transferring him patient to Walsgrave Hospital, Coventry and Warwickshire University NHS Trustt

In summary:

EMAS transferred 3 casualties from scene - one to Leicester Royal Infirmary and two to Peterborough District Hospital

HELIMED 54 and 53 flew 2 casualties directly to Walsgrave.

EMICS doctor recovered back to base location.

Volunteer emergency doctors on the front line of multiple road traffic incidents

Two volunteer emergency doctors from East Midlands Immediate Care Scheme (EMICS) have again been on the ‘front line’ at road traffic incidents in Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire over the last few days. One of them, Dr Nick Foster of Kegworth has written his own ‘blog’ about the traumatic two days – which shows the close relationship between the east Midlands air ambulances and EMICS doctors - and this is shown below:

"The last 24 hours has been the busiest from a trauma point of view, that I have ever had. Carnage is too soft a word. I don’t know what it is that triggers it, I can go for weeks dealing with minor bumps and bangs, and then suddenly the incidents become more numerous and more severe.

Since 4 pm on Sunday, I have been on the road dealing with trauma for 10 Hours, slept for 6, and then carried on my normal work as a GP for 8 hours. It has definitely been the weekend for lorry accidents. These are big vehicles with their own problems centring around access.

The early hours of Friday morning on the A6006 were a forerunner of the weekend. The lorry driver casualty was trapped inside his cab for 2 ½ hours.

On Sunday I was called to another incident on the A42; another lorry with similar problems, difficult access and fighting against time. Although EMICS and the air ambulance are separate organisations, we work together so well. There is a common purpose and that is ensuring the casualty gets to hospital in the best condition with respect to their injuries.

On Sunday 27th September, I work alongside Dr Pam Hardy from the Air Ambulance on the incident on the A42 at Junction 11. Pam is a consultant in Accident and Emergency at Chesterfield. Pam, similar to myself, give our time free of charge to help those involved in accidents and like myself, is an EMICS doctor as well as a doctor on the Air Ambulance.

As soon as Pam lifts off towards Coventry and Walsgrave Hospital with our casualty safely on board the helicopter, I receive another call from East Midlands Ambulance Service that there has been another serious accident involving a lorry and a car this time on the M1. The initial call is between junction 25 and 26 however the caller has got the location wrong. It is really between junction 26 and 27 in the middle of the road works. By now I am committed in the road works, cars are at a standstill and nothing is moving. We work around a golden hour, a critical time interval between injury and successful resuscitation, and every minute I am stuck in the traffic takes another minute out of my precious golden hour. As the traffic comes to a grinding halt for the tenth time, I spot a gap in the iron railings and the works access. There is a helpful workman in this gap, he moves the cones and allows me access onto the works access lane. This buys me back my minutes as I can now move swiftly up to the scene – the lorry and the car.

On Monday 28th September after morning surgery and home visits; a lunchtime incident on the A50 near to Junction 24. This is made even more difficult by the fact that we are also dealing with a lorry fire on the southbound carriageway of the M1 at Junction 24. The problems have now escalated. The roads are gridlocked in all directions and once again I am faced with loosing minutes on my golden hour.

I am first on scene on the A50 and make the important mobile phone call to the Air Ambulance. They can get in where land vehicles will be stuck. Together we can get things moving. Fire trucks arrive and now we can start extricating casualties. The paramedics on the Air Ambulance and myself work with the fire crews “unpacking” the car. The car has hidden airbags concealed along the roof above the doors that make the extrication even more difficult. Although these airbags are designed to protect the occupants inside the vehicle, they present a hazard to the rescuers. An air bag could go off at any time with devastating consequences. We go through the same drill as with every other accident. Emergency first aid and resuscitation to the casualty in the vehicle whilst the fire crews work around us removing doors, peeling back roofs, avoiding the potentially exploding air bag. We can only get one land ambulance to the scene as others are tied up with numerous other incidents including the lorry fire on the M1."

By now the M1 is closed at Junction 24 and the A50 is closed at Junction 24.

Checkmate. We are truly hemmed in by vehicles. I move the most seriously injured casualty to the Air Ambulance, recheck the casualty and then fly them off to Derby. I return to the second casualty, now safely in the only land ambulance that has been able to get thru the vehicle chaos and despatch her off to the same hospital but this time by road. The police have cleared a path beyond the A50 towards Derby.

4pm surgery at Kegworth and my patients are waiting – that’s if they can get thru the gridlocked traffic.

Early morning start for volunteer emergency doctor

A volunteer emergency doctor from East Midlands Immediate Care Scheme (EMICS) was on the scene of a road traffic accident at 4.30 am this morning, Friday 25^th September, to assist the driver of a lorry which had toppled over on the A6006 near Shoby, Leicestershire.

Dr Nick Foster, General Practitioner from Kegworth and experienced EMICS doctor was called by East Midlands Ambulance Service to provide first aid to the driver who was trapped in the cab of his lorry which had landed in a ditch during the period that the driver was trapped.

The extrication was extremely difficult, taking 2 ½ hours to finally release the driver. The fire and ambulance/medical teams had to work closely together in a very difficult scenario. The driver was eventually transferred by road ambulance to the Nottingham Queens Medical Centre where he is reported to be in a stable condition.

Dr Foster said “This was one of the most difficult incidents I have attended for many years. The shear bulk of the lorry meant that getting any form of access to the driver was almost impossible. First aid had to be provided to the driver inside the lorry as the Fire crews had to provide the final access to allow the safe extrication of the casualty. I think I saw about every bit of kit the Fire Crews had in their tenders used.”

“These incidents are always difficult as there are two priorities happening at the same time. Casualties have to be resuscitated as fire crews work to free the casualty. This calls for close working between the two groups as by definition the area is very hazardous, however we train on a regular basis to deal precisely with these challenging situations.”

Volunteer emergency doctors learn more skills

A gathering of 45 emergency professionals, including volunteer emergency doctors, from across the East Midlands took time out to further develop their skills in dealing with a range of emergency situations on Monday evening (21^st September 2009) at a programme organised by the East Midlands Regional Faculty of Pre-Hospital Care (EMFPHC) and held at Alfreton Fire Station in Derbyshire.

The session was run by Mr Andy Lee, a Fire Officer with Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service (see profile below) and secretary of EMFPHC which is run in affiliation with East Midlands Immediate Care Scheme (EMICS). The theme of the evening session was all about Pre-Hospital Scenarios and dealt mainly with extrication of seriously injured victims of accidents whether on the road or in an industrial environment.

The regular programme run by the East Midlands Regional Faculty of Pre-Hospital Care is formally evaluated by collection of feedback forms and rated very highly on this occasion. Comments included: “brilliant”; “very well put together”; “exemplary”; and “can we please have more?!”

The evening was sponsored by Sims Metal LtdSims Metal Ltd of Somercotes, Alfreton.

The volunteer emergency doctors serve with the EMICS charity on a totally voluntary basis and already have advanced skills which include the ability to anaesthetise patients at the scene of an incident. EMICS Doctors in attendance were: Dr Pam Hardy of Chesterfield,  Dr James Gray of Dronfield, Derbyshire, Dr Nick Foster of Kegworth, Leicestershire, Dr Leon Roberts of North Luffenham, Rutland, Dr Mark Folman of Newark, Nottinghamshire, Dr Simeon Rayner of Billesdon, Leicestershire and Dr John Trenfield of Northampton.

These volunteer doctors from EMICS are part of a group of just 17 who have responded to more than 550 emergency calls across the region, from East Midlands Ambulance Service, this year to end of August of which 145 were life threatening.

Volunteer emergency Doctor provides multi-county support

A volunteer emergency doctor from East Midlands Immediate Care Scheme (EMICS) provided a truly region wide service last weekend (12^th & 13^th September) starting in north Derbyshire attending a patient at Towcester accompanying the patient to hospital in Coventry and then attending two separate incidents in Leicestershire.

On Saturday Dr Pam Hardy, an experienced EMICS volunteer whose ‘day job’ is a Consultant in Emergency Care at Chesterfield, was in north Derbyshire when she was called by East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS) control to assist with a victim of a Motor Cross accident at Towcester because the ambulance crew were unable to move him. The Derbyshire Leicestershire & Rutland Air Ambulance (DLRAA) was in the area en route to another incident and arranged to collect Pam Hardy to take her to the Towcester incident as no other air ambulance or EMICS doctor was available. As the incident to which the DLRAA was originally called was down graded it was able to pick up Dr Hardy at a quickly arranged rendezvous – the Moorlands Public House at Owler Bar – with the cooperation of the bar staff at the pub who agreed to take care of her car. The Moorlands is the take off point for pleasure flights so Pam knew there would be facilities for the DLRAA.

On arrival at the Motor Cross track Dr Hardy administered strong pain killers and sedated the victim before undertaking advanced interventions at the scene before he could be made comfortable and loaded onto the air ambulance. Dr Hardy then travelled with the patient when he was transferred to the Walsgrave Hospital. The DLRAA arrived at Walsgrave with just sufficient fuel to get them on to Coventry airport to refuel.

Whilst refuelling EMAS control desk called to ask if they could attend another patient who had suffered severe lower leg injuries on a rugby field at Shepshed near Loughborough. Dr Hardy then had to perform similar interventions on this patient before the DLRAA could transfer the patient to Royal Derby Hospital

On Sunday, following a planned shift on Derbyshire Leicestershire & Rutland Air Ambulance (DLRAA) Dr Hardy was asked to respond to another call from EMAS shortly after leaving the airbase on her way home. This was to a road traffic collision on the M1 where traffic had come to a standstill. After a two mile drive under flashing lights, Dr Hardy was able to assist the crews from EMAS and Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service to attend to a trapped female driver who had to be extricated from her vehicle. The patient had to be transferred to Queens Medical unit at Nottingham where her injuries are described as stable.

Dr Pam Hardy said of the weekend’s events “This is an excellent example of East Midlands Ambulance Service Control being aware of their additional resources and charities working together to do their best for the patient - whenever and wherever they need it”

BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION AIDS VOLUNTEER DOCTORS

A grandmother in Rutland has foregone presents in order to aid the charity that supports volunteer emergency doctor from East Midlands Immediate Care Scheme (EMICS) following the help that one of the doctors gave to her grandson.

In December of last year Mrs Margaret Thraves’s grandson, 19 year old Richard Cooper, was involved in an unfortunate serious accident at the family farm. Due to the severe nature of the injuries sustained, Richard was faced with the real possibility of losing his leg. East Midlands Ambulance Service requested the assistance of one of the volunteer doctors from the charity, Dr Leon Roberts, who lives lust over 3 miles away from the farm. Dr Roberts was able to respond immediately and so was on scene at the incident very quickly and provide immediate assistance to stabilise and treat the young man’s condition. Arrangements were made for the Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire Air Ambulance to take the patient directly to Queen’s Medical Centre at Nottingham. Dr Roberts was able to speak to the trauma team in Nottingham directly from the incident and ensured the team were pre-alerted about the need for immediate treatment to Richard upon arrival in order to save the man’s leg.

Margaret decided that she would ask for donations to the charity in lieu of presents at her recent 70th birthday party which was held 16^th May 2009 at Empingham Cricket Club and attended by a large number of her family and friends. The donations have totalled £2000 and this will be used by EMICS to assist with the purchase of further equipment needed by the volunteer doctors for their emergency work.

The Charity Evening held recently to support the work of the East Midlands Immediate Care Scheme (EMICS) at the Cuisine of India Restaurant on Kelmarsh Avenue in Wigston, Leicestershire succeeded in raising more than £1000. All of the profits from the evening have been donated to the charity thanks to the generosity of the proprietor Mr Syed Rahman. As well as the profits from the event a number of generous donations have taken the total to £1,020.

Mr Rahman said of the evening, “I realise how very hard it is to raise funds for charities in these difficult times and I am so glad that the evening has been successful. I only realised this evening how valuable is the work of these volunteer doctors in helping to save the lives of the victims of serious road and other accidents. It was so good to see two of these patients here with us this evening. This event is part of our plan to raise over £100,000 for charity over the next 7 years”.

The two ex patients were, Miss Sarah Lee who was helped at the scene of a serious road accident by Dr Nick Foster in July 2004, and Mr Gary Boothroyd who was involved, as a cyclist in a collision with a motor vehicle in August 1998 and helped by Dr Nigel Callow. Both patients suffered such serious injuries that they needed specialist assistance by a doctor before they could be transferred to hospital.

Part of the success of the evening came from a grand raffle for which prizes had been donated by a large number of businesses in Leicester, Oakham and Wigston.

The evening was attended by 75 friends and family members of the organiser Mr Garth Lee and Drs Tim Gray, Leon Roberts, Peter Gordan and Simeon Rayner, four of the doctors who are volunteers with EMICS. Dr Gray, the chairman of EMICS acknowledged the hospitality of the restaurant and the support of the guests by saying “Thank you so much for turning out on a Monday evening in the middle of a recession to support a charity that not many have heard of let alone know what it does, your support is greatly appreciated it will make a difference to the work that we do. Thank you”.

A fund raising campaign was launched in 2008 year to generate the £75,000 necessary to equip 5 new doctors who had been recruited to help expand the service across the region. For further information about EMICS please go to www.emics.org.uk

Photographs of the evening can be viewed on the Cuisine of India website www.cuisineofindia.co.uk/album/300309/album/index/html and high definition images can be

obtained from Terry Emmony by calling 0116247 8776 or mobile 07714671234.

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A volunteer emergency doctor from East Midlands Immediate Care Scheme (EMICS) was on duty for much of Friday evening (20^th February 2009) at the scene of a road traffic collision which occurred at 17.40 hours on the A15 at Silk Willoughby, near Sleaford.

 Dr Mark Folman, a General Practitioner with a practice in Newark, arrived at the scene at which there was already a crew from East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS) present as well as a medical response team from LIVES, the Lincolnshire voluntary medics scheme. A Fire and Rescue crew was also in attendance as well as the police who had closed off the road to allow the medics un-distracted attention to the patient.

 The incident involved two vehicles at a high speed junction in which one of the cars rolled over. A number of people from the cars were involved in the incident and most were medically discharged at the scene. However one 30 year old patient was found, whilst being extricated from the vehicle to have significant head injuries so Dr Folman anaesthetised him at the scene in order to control his breathing and protect his brain until he could receive more specialist treatment in hospital. Emergency anaesthesia is normally done in a hospital environment but a number of the EMICS doctors, including Dr Folman are trained to do this procedure at the scene of incidents such as this. Dr Folman, together with LIVES doctor Dr Steele, accompanied the patient on the one hour journey by road ambulance to Queens Medical Centre at Nottingham. The patient’s condition was said to be stable at the time Dr Folman left the hospital at 10 pm to be taken back to his car at the scene by an EMAS crew.

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A volunteer emergency doctor from East Midlands Immediate Care Scheme (EMICS) was one of the first on the scene of an incident today (19^th February 2009) when a micro-light pilot crashed into a hedge shortly after take off in the Ilkeston area of Derbyshire.

 Dr Andy Davies, who is a General Practitioner with a practice in Ilkeston and an EMICS volunteer, was called by the East Midlands Ambulance Service at around midday to attend to the pilot at the scene of the incident. He arrived within 12 minutes whereupon he began to calm and stabilise the patient. The patient, a 60 year old male, was diagnosed to have a broken lower leg which was splinted before he was transported to Derby Royal Infirmary by road ambulance. The incident occurred near Park Lane Farm on Park Hall Lane, between West Hallam and Mapperley

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Two Charities emergency doctors work in tandem

Doctors from two local charities – East Midlands Immediate Care Scheme (EMICS) and the Derbyshire, Leicester, Rutland Air Ambulance (DLRAA) were kept busy earlier this week (Tuesday 10^th February 2009) following a series of accidents.

Dr Pam Hardy, a volunteer EMICS doctor in North Derbyshire, who also works on the Air Ambulance, came across a road traffic accident on the M1 (J29-28) at approximately 06.40 on her way the work on the helicopter service. Despite significant damage to a car that had spun out of control on the wet and icy roads, the single occupant was able to be treated and discharged from scene.

Once at work the air ambulance was tasked to another road accident related to the icy conditions, this time in Barnsdale, Rutland, where Dr Tim Gray, another volunteer EMICS doctor in Oakham, was already on scene assisting crews in treating the driver trapped in his van. The two doctors worked with land crews, air ambulance paramedics and Leicestershire Fire & Rescue Service to free him from the wreckage and he was flown to Leicester Royal Infirmary with suspected neck and chest injuries.

On the way back to base, at East Midlands Airport, the air ambulance was tasked to an industrial incident in Loughborough, where a man had been trapped by a steel girder and sustained severe leg injuries. This time Dr Nick Foster, another volunteer EMICS doctor from Kegworth, was on scene along with ambulance and fire crews. The man had been freed from the situation by his work colleagues prior to treatment. Thanks to the skills of the air ambulance pilot Captain Shaun Tinkler-Rose, the air ambulance team was able to land close to the incident in the industrial estate and the man was flown to Queen’s Medical Centre, in Nottingham.

Doctors from the two organisations (EMICS & DLRAA) – both of which are funded entirely by charitable donations – work closely together in terms of training and education, and some doctors work for both charities – having their own cars fully equipped with medical kit as well as blue lights and sirens to respond to emergencies at any time of day or night, and also do shifts on the air ambulance.

Dr Pam Hardy said: “although we meet on regular occasions at organised events and training sessions, it is unusual to meet quite so often on operational jobs and great to be able to work together in this way putting what we train for into practice.”

Dr Nick Foster also attended two further road traffic collisions on the evening of the same day.

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Medical volunteers assist the injured at scene of glider crash
Two volunteers from the East Midlands Immediate Care Scheme (EMICS) were again on duty on Sunday afternoon (18th January 2009) to assist an injured passenger and his pilot when their glider aircraft crash landed on Abney Moor in the Derbyshire Peak district.  
The EMICS volunteers were Dr Pam Hardy, whose full time post is as Consultant in Emergency Care and Mr Andy Lee who works fulltime for Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service and is an EMICS volunteer.
Despite the remote location to the two volunteers were on the scene within 15 minutes as the first medical response team. The Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service were first on the scene.   The rapid response from all the emergency teams and the speedy medical assessment from the EMICS team enabled the injured patient to be immobilised at the scene and to be transported, by ambulance, to Chesterfield Royal Hospital within just 40 minutes of the crash call at 16.15 pm. The pilot was discharged without serious injury by ambulance staff at the scene.
The scene of the incident was exposed moorland, in biting wind and with darkness quickly approaching.  
All doctors in EMICS are volunteers who attend emergency incidents at the request of and in support of staff from the East Midlands Ambulance Service. A fund raising campaign was launched earlier last year to generate the £75,000 necessary to equip 5 new doctors who have been recruited to help expand the service across the region.  Anyone wishing to support the work of EMICS can obtain further information from the office by telephoning 01572 759680 or by visiting www.emics.org.uk