Every day, DSAA works closely with other emergency services to deliver care to sick and injured people across our region, in whatever setting they find themselves in. This includes along our coastal areas, where we collaborate with organisations like the RNLI. The more we can understand each other’s capabilities and ways of working, the better equipped we can be to deliver excellence in patient care.

With this in mind, April’s training day was jointly held with the Poole RNLI team based at the Lifeboat College. The morning involved a series of lectures; Dr Tony Hanks (PHEM trainee) delivered an update on drowning, Dr Paddy Morgan (Consultant Anaesthetist, North Bristol NHS Trust, GWAAC and medical officer for the Extreme Environments Lab, University of Portsmouth) spoke about cold water immersion, Dr Emily Rowlands (Fellow, Diving Disease Research Centre) and Dr Doug Watts (Medical Director DDRC) discussed management of Diving Emergencies and Nikki Pearce and CCP Lauren Dyson gave presentations on the capability of the RNLI and DSAA respectively.

In the afternoon, there were two simulations, involving the care of a drowned casualty and of a child injured aboard a boat in Holes Bay. Both involved close working between the two services and led to some really productive debrief discussions. 

We are extremely grateful to Dr Fiona MacDonald and the RNLI College without whom we would not have been able to achieve this collaboration, to all the speakers and to the Poole RNLI team members who set time aside to attend the day and train with us.