[children's transport group] conference reports
- From: Ian Braithwaite <ian@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: post@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 11 Sep 2010 11:39:09 +0100
Sure Tamsen
The main thing I got out of Ambulex was that if you put 100 emergency vehicles
in a big hall and turn all their blue lights on, you get a huge throbbing
headache. I learnt that noise reduction for occupants in the back of the
vehicle is not a priority for manufacturers who assume you are only in the back
with a patient for short periods. I also learnt that there are many varieties
of comfy seat out there, and we should not be tolerant of the standard really
hard ambulance seats, which are only intended for short journeys.
Waypoint was a friendlier, smaller meeting. There won't be much I saw that you
aren't already familiar with in Australia, you guys are very much ahead of us
in terms of air transport. We had a talk from a guy from Medstar in Adelaide,
and everyone went ooh a lot at photos of their big hangar and nice red
uniforms. I spent a fair bit of time chatting to people from the UK Air
Ambulance Charities and gained a new appreciation of the complex issues that
arise when charities get involved in healthcare provision; the public see them
as essential services, the NHS does not. Several teams had based their
operations at the airport for the duration of the conference so there were a
lot of people in flight suits wondering around and the odd rapidly departing
helicopter or Lear jet! There was one memorable "service users experience" talk
from an Air Ambulance Pilot who had used his own aeromedical services twice,
once falling off a cliff in the snow, and once crashing a microlight onto a
golf course. I'm glad I'm not his employer as he appeared to be off sick a lot!
Ian Braithwaite
Senior Transport Nurse
Embrace
Yorkshire and Humber Paediatric and Neonatal Transport Service
UK
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