The group of front-line staff who have contributed to ‘Pain: an ambulance perspective’ were presented with their own copies on Wednesday and guests also heard about how pain management for patients was an area that needed more focus in the ambulance care arena.

Edited by clinical managers Tracy Nicholls and Lucas Hawkes-Frost, the book is the first of its kind covering areas such as assessing and measuring pain, medication, children and pain, and pain relief in the elderly.

Every clinical member of staff in the region will receive a book and publishers Class Publishing will be selling the book to all good bookshops and online book suppliers.

via Bedfordshire Local News.

Buy it now from Amazon UK -

Pain: An Ambulance Perspective

The app also includes the new Bug Blaster game, a virtual battle against bacteria. Take the challenge today and see if you can beat your friends and eliminate the meningitis bug.

The app has been launched following an extensive survey of students around the UK and Ireland revealing that their knowledge of the symptoms of meningitis was indeed lacking despite teenagers and young people being one the groups most at risk after under 5s.

Over 50% of students in the UK do not know whether they have been vaccinated against deadly disease meningitis, and the majority ranked themselves as the second least at risk group – when in fact they are the second most at risk, after babies and young children. A quarter of students believe a rash is present in all cases of meningitis, when in fact there are some types of meningitis where a rash does not appear at all. Students need to be vigilant of other symptoms including fever, vomiting, dislike of bright lights and neck stiffness, and not only look out for the rash.

The app seeks to raise awareness of the diseases amongst this age group, who can learn about the diseases and the symptoms whilst also competing against the friends with this new game.

Meningitis and septicaemia are life threatening diseases that can kill in hours, or leave survivors with potentially devastating after effects sometimes as severe as brain damage, amputations and epilepsy. The diseases can affect anyone of any age, but babies, young children, teenagers and young adults are most at risk.

via Meningitis Research Foundation.

Given the astonishing pace of medical technology innovation, you would be forgiven for thinking that the modern ambulance must surely be a slick box of tricks on wheels.

But from a design point of view, the ambulance has changed very little in the past 30 years or so. In fact, the basic concept of ’swoop and scoop’ to hospital that is still largely in place dates back even further – despite changing healthcare paradigms.

Read the full article at The Engineer.

Knowing how to stop bleeding, open an airway or perform CPR should be considered as important as knowing your times tables.

We want to create a new generation of life savers across the UK by ensuring that emergency life support skills (ELS) are taught in all schools and communities.

via British Heart Foundation

7,956 people living in the Chesterfield, Bolsover, Bakewell and Matlock areas dialled the helpline direct between 25th October 2011 and 2nd January 2012, with another 2,425 automatically diverted to the service through their GP.

NHS 111 is a new health telephone number being piloted by NHS Derbyshire County and North Derbyshire Clinical Commissioning Group.

The number – which will replace NHS Direct at the end of March 2013 – is the number people needing health and medical care should use when it’s less urgent than 999.

via The Chesterfield Post.

The death of Mandy Mathieson, of Moray, brought the row to wider public attention.

An ambulance technician stationed close to her home did not respond to a call as he was on a break.

Unite said 62% of ballot papers returned by members rejected the new proposal.

via BBC News

The drug is the first to be approved under the Government’s new ‘medicines innovation scheme,’ designed to speed up the adoption of promising medication for use in the NHS.

Ambulance crews working in the south-west of England already have access to TXA as part of a trial. The decision by the Department of Health means it will now be rolled out across the NHS starting this month.

The move comes after an international study suggested that the drug could save almost 300 lives a year if it was licensed for civilian use in Britain.

read the full article at - The Independent.

Data provided by the 11 ambulance services showed all are experiencing difficulties handing over patients.

Hospitals are supposed to take charge of them within 15 minutes of the ambulance arriving, but some are missing this in over half of cases.

Waits of an hour are even being experienced at times, delaying crews from attending other 999 calls.

It means paramedics are left waiting with their patients in hospital corridors or stuck in their vehicles until a nurse or doctor can take the person off their hands.

via BBC News

Dial 999, say ambulances, and it’s increasingly likely that you’ll be sent a car or a motorcycle as trusts use quicker, cheaper vehicles to respond to calls in government-set deadlines, writes Channel 4 News Northern Correspondent Morland Sanders.

Yet paramedics have told Channel 4 News that the reliance on so-called fast-response vehicles is putting the lives of some critically ill patients on the line, and it can’t even be guaranteed that the person behind the wheel is a qualified paramedic.

via Channel 4 News.

via guardian.co.uk.