Our clinical, aviation and patient and family liaison teams attended an informative Road Traffic Collision (RTC) training day on Friday 16th September in conjunction with the Dorset & Wiltshire Fire & Rescue Service. The event was kindly hosted and facilitated by Jon Curley (FRS Watch Manager /Trainer) at West Moors FRS Training Centre; with support from operational Fire & Rescue Teams from Bournemouth and Salisbury stations.

We were fortunate that our helicopter, Peggy, was able to meet us on site – which allowed for the day crew to be involved, as well as our Practitioners working on the Dorset Outreach Car. The day consisted of an introduction to RTC hazards and situational awareness, followed by group workshops focused on the use of Longboards for vehicle extrication and familiarity with FRS equipment/procedures on scene at an incident.

The team were also joined by two equipment representatives from Safeguard Medical, who provided an excellent update on our Warrior blood products administration system. During the afternoon, the group were put through their paces with some real time RTC scenarios - which led to some challenging decisions surrounding the treatment and safe extrication of live casualties from the ‘wreckage’ of a number of vehicles. We were blessed with good weather on the day which was a real bonus! DSAA would like to thank the Dorset & Wiltshire Fire & Rescue Service crews for their knowledge and expertise on the day, as well as the SWASFT staff and students who volunteered their time to help.