Critical Care Doctors
These are the same doctors you would see in an emergency department
Our EMRTS consultants are from emergency medicine, anaesthesia and intensive care backgrounds.
They are the same as consultants as you would see in an emergency department, and their involvement with the service is included in their existing NHS job plan alongside their in-hospital work.
As well as undergoing the mandatory medical training to become a consultant, there are additional requirements to work on board Wales Air Ambulance. Each consultant must have:
- Full GMC registration with license to practice and up to date appraisal / revalidation.
- Substantive Consultant in or having accepted an Advisory Appointments Committee (AAC) approved substantive post in Anaesthetics/EM/ICM
- Successful completion of relevant life support/resuscitation/trauma courses previously
- Hold the Diploma in Immediate Medical Care, Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh
- Successful completion of the PHEM Training programme or equivalent training and experience
- Experience of working in the pre-hospital environment and/or experience of carrying out secondary transfers.
- Willingness to undergo further training in the specialties of PHEM and retrieval medicine.
- Experience in postgraduate /multidisciplinary education
- Prior experience with evidence of working within an established pre-hospital aero-medical or road-based service
Some of the responsibilities of a consultant on board Wales Air Ambulance are:
Patient assessment and management in the pre-hospital and in-hospital environments.
Safe transfer of all time-critical patients to tertiary units from scene or healthcare facilities. This includes neonatal and paediatric patients.
Providing pre-hospital care at major incidents and mass casualty events, including the Forward Medical Advisor and Tactical Medical Advisor.
Work in conjunction with critical care practitioners and visit health care facilities to promote and explain the role of the service.
Daily controlled drug management, including checking and storage and the correct blood product storage and cold chain adherence.
Complete medical passenger briefings, along with participating in pre-shift briefing and support pre-flight planning, as required.
Responsible for daily shift equipment management, maintenance and appropriate storage.
Utilise on board radio communications equipment and support the safe loading/ off-loading of the patient within the aircraft environment.
General care of the aircraft including equipment stowage, cleaning and tidiness.
Aircraft safety both at base and on scene including rotor safety, personnel movement and crowd control. Assist the pilot with fire picket duties at engine start up.
Top Cover Consultant
24 hours a day, a separate consultant, who also works shifts onboard the aircraft and rapid response vehicles, is on call to provide remote advice to EMRTS crews if required. This includes when dealing with very poorly patients, children and complex incidents. They also have a role in the coordination of major incidents as the Strategic Medical Advisor role.
The impact our consultants make
Sinead’s story highlights how important it is that we have specialist consultants on board. Hear from Consultant Chris Hingston, and hear how Wales Air Ambulance saved her life.
This is Sinead’s story…
We are able to make the impact we do through the fact everyone pulls together to do the very best for the patient, thanks to the support from the public and communities across Wales.
It’s a demanding job, but also a huge privilege
Dr Iain Edgar
Find out more
