Accident & Emergency Services

Accident & Emergency Service

The Scottish Ambulance Service has recently undergone a large number of changes, There has been a significant investment in the training and development of ambulance crews resulting in more effective patient care than ever before.

Each year about one in twenty people in Scotland will use the Accident and Emergency Ambulance Service. However responding to 999 calls makes up only 10% of the total workload of the Service, they are also involved in non emergency work such as the Patient Transport Service.

The Accident and Emergency Service deals with emergency and urgent cases as well as the more complex non-emergency admissions, discharges and transfers. Typically emergency ambulance crews comprise of an Ambulance Technician and a Paramedic and the vehicles themselves are designed to provide a clinical workplace with the maximum mobility.

The Mercedes Sprinter 416 CDi with ramp deployed

Ambulance Crews are highly trained in all aspects of pre hospital emergency care ranging from crush injuries to cardiac arrest, whilst ambulances are equipped with a wide range of emergency care equipment such as heart defibrillators, oxygen, intravenous drips, spinal and traction splints and a variety of drugs for medical and traumatic emergencies.

The Interior of the Mercedes 416 CDi

Crews have to be highly skilled and able to treat and stabilise patients before movement to hospitals without unnecessary delay, they need to be quick thinking and decisive, yet able to provide a calm and reassuring environment for patients and relatives.

A & E trainees practising for the real world

Click here or the picture for a quick trauma test

The work of Technicians and Paramedics is varied and demanding, crews rarely know in advance the severity of the emergency to which they are responding, they can range between minor injuries to a road accident involving seriously injured casualties and fatalities. Both Paramedics and Technicians are trained in advanced driving skills and may work within ambulances, air ambulances, Rapid Response Units (RRU) or on motorcycles.

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