999 crews go back to classroom to save more lives

South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue (SYFR) and paramedics met at a new training initiative to improve the way emergency services work together in the county.

SYFR and doctors from Sheffield Teaching Hospitals completed realistic training exercises to strengthen how fire and ambulance staff respond to road traffic collisions (RTCs).

SYFR said it hoped the mutual learning will help to develop the care a person receives before reaching hospital, and significantly reduce death rates in the area.

RTCs are one of the biggest causes of major trauma and thousands of people are killed or seriously injured every year in England and Wales.

The training sessions saw fire officers briefing doctors through the various techniques of freeing a person trapped inside a vehicle and the risk assessments that must take place alongside these.

The doctors’ medical advice was fed back to fire crews to ensure the casualty’s needs were met.

A debrief took place after the session to identify good practice and learning points for each emergency service.

Fire officer and training instructor Trevor Roome, said: “This is what emergency service partnerships are all about – learning from each other to create the best outcome for the people we are there to help.

“Working together in these situations can’t just be taught in a classroom, it has to be developed and nurtured through collaboration at practical exercises like these.

“It’s our vision that this focus and investment in working side by side will result in a substantial reduction in death rates at incidents we attend alongside our emergency service partners.”

Doctor James Sen, who attended the session, said: “This training has given me the basic principles of rescue techniques and allowed me to understand how medical knowledge can fit into this, improving the overall outcome for the patient.

“Ultimately, as emergency services become more aware of each other and their roles, this will benefit society as a whole, as the standards of care at road traffic collisions will greatly improve.”