East Anglian Air Ambulance

Hi, I'm Sue Keogh.

Dr. Brendan Fletcher is an NHS consultant in emergency medicine at Addenbrookes Hospital in Cambridgeshire and part of the crew for the East Anglian Air Ambulance.

They arrive on the scene of road traffic collisions, cardiac arrests and other medical emergencies, offering critical care and airlifting patients by helicopter to hospital, giving them the very best chance of survival.

He tells me how paramedics use body language to inject a sense of calm in panicky situations, and the communication techniques he uses in different scenarios, from talking to injured children, breaking bad news to loved ones, or dealing with the very modern phenomenon of bystanders getting their phones out and filming at the scene.

The other thing that is really helpful is a little flow charter to remind you of the sequence of things And that is particularly important if there are multiple agencies involved.

My top tip for dealing with an emergency is make friends in peace times so that when you get to the situation, you're managing the situation, not the process of managing an emergency.

Let's go back to Dr Brendan Fletcher from the East Anglian Air Ambulance.

I asked him about communicating with the patients themselves so they may be scared or disorientated.

And of course, Magpass Air Ambulance being established in Cambridgeshire over 55 years ago has saved countless lives across the area.

I always get confused because there's you guys and there's also the East Anglian Air Ambulance.

Do you coordinate between each other or is it simply slightly different geographical areas that you serve?

No, we absolutely coordinate.