East of England Ambulance Service hones emergency skills during training day in Sutton Bridge

Emergency service staff have taken part in exercises which simulated a wide range of scenarios, including burns, heat related illness, trauma, shootings, drownings, and a stabbing in a nightclub.

Staff from East of England Ambulance Service (EEAST) dedicated their personal time to hone their emergency skills at Sutton Bridge.

They took part in a series of realistic emergency planning exercises designed to prepare them for emergency situations that are not encountered every day.

Leading operations manager Laura Kitchen said: “All we ask is a willingness to learn and get involved and we’ve had very positive feedback from all our attendees.

“This is a great example of staff across EEAST working together and freely giving up their time to help colleagues, as well as an excellent example of EEAST working with other emergency services and external agencies.“

One exercise featured a simulated explosion on a ship and involved water rescue, rescue at height and saw ambulance crews and the Norfolk Fire and Rescue Service (NFRS) colleagues working closely together to practice triage and treatment of multiple casualties.

Participation was coordinated by Peterborough Mentoring, Support and Training Team with additional input from their Hazardous Area Response Teams, patient transport and police and community first responders also attended.

The exercises were in addition to the regular staff training, and are designed to offer high-quality, fully-immersive training to challenge staff with situations they may not encounter often.

It also shows that EEAST offers an immersive and high-fidelity training to staff and students, which is undoubtedly of value in terms of recruitment and staff retention.”

The staff who attended were all on rest days and were drawn from a wide range of clinical grades including BSc students from Anglia Ruskin University.