The impact of our Volunteer Responder Scheme

The Devon Air Ambulance Volunteer Responder Scheme (VRS) was an initiative set up in May 2022, in collaboration with the South-Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust.

As part of a twelve-month feasibility trial, three Devon Air Ambulance Critical Care Paramedics (CCPs) began volunteering their time to support the enhanced and critical care needs of patients across our county.

Since the start of the scheme, they have offered their availability on 135 separate occasions, responding to 76 incidents, while providing care to 55 patients. There has been a huge variety of patient conditions dealt with by the volunteers, reflecting the unpredictable nature of prehospital care. Of the incidents responded to, 51% of patients had suffered a medical event, 47% had suffered a traumatic episode and 2% were both medical and trauma presentations.

On 25% of occasions, a Devon Air Ambulance Volunteer Responder has been the first emergency service resource to arrive on scene. This means they can deliver initial, lifesaving treatment, required to stabilise a patient ahead of the arrival of a Devon Air Ambulance Critical Care resource. You can read on page 29 how former patient, Steven, was successfully resuscitated by one of our VRS volunteers following his cardiac arrest.

As part of the trial, we sought feedback from ambulance service colleagues regarding the impact of having a VRS representative present at an incident. While several described benefits include the delivery of enhanced care medicines and treatment interventions, the feedback also identifies the value of a VRS Critical Care Paramedic (CCP) who offers scene leadership, momentum and support with complex decision making.

The VRS team carry similar equipment to that found on our critical care cars and helicopters. They respond in their own vehicles which undergo rigorous safety inspections and are appropriately insured, allowing them to respond safely using blue lights and sirens. Thanks to the kind support of local business, Safe Response, vehicles are easily identified on scene by their Devon Air Ambulance responder visor. In total, it costs approximately £5,000 to fully set-up a volunteer paramedic for the VRS role. You can watch a short video which shows the equipment carried here bit.ly/VRS-video.

This project has proven itself to be a valuable, safe and effective scheme, and Devon Air Ambulance is keen to substantiate the service imminently. We aim to develop the role further, including the inception of more volunteers in 2023 and the purchase of additional vital medical equipment.

The VRS volunteer CCPs can provide the same level of care and intervention as if they are working a normal operational shift. This includes:

• enhanced pain relief for patients who have suffered traumatic injuries.

• procedural sedation for patients who are recovering following a cardiac arrest, or for more severe traumatic injuries.

• advanced airway and ventilation support for cardiac arrest and head injured patients.

• delivery of additional medicines to optimise patient outcomes.

• surgical interventions to treat patients with chest, limb and airway trauma.

• supporting ambulance service colleagues with complex decision making.

• offering clinical expertise during the prehospital care phase for any patient presenting with enhanced or critical care needs.

The VRS has developed clear objectives and deliverable aims:

• reduce preventable death, disability or suffering from critical illness or injury and deliver exemplary time-critical care, in accordance with the Devon Air Ambulance vision and mission statements.

• increase CCP prehospital exposure to enhanced and critical care pathologies.

• support a reduction in ambulance service demand by alleviating pressures on Emergency Medical Service colleagues at incidents (supporting complex decision making and reducing overall incident duration).

• support the Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS) and Critical Care Dispatchers by offering additional enhanced care resources within Devon, including out-of-hours.

• support enhanced and critical care colleagues at larger scale, high acuity and major incident cases.

• develop, test, and sustain an innovative service within Devon that can be replicated amongst other HEMS care services.

Volunteer Responders

Lee Hilton, Advanced Paramedic in Critical Care and VRS Lead, spoke of the success of the trial:

“It’s been an absolute pleasure to be able to extend our patient care beyond that offered by our core provision of helicopters and critical care cars.

The VRS has been able to support our patients at large scale incidents and on occasions when our core team are already committed to other patients.

Having our volunteers available to respond has allowed Devon Air Ambulance to continue to meet the unpredictable demands of prehospital critical care.

None of these innovative solutions would be possible without the continued support of every one of our dedicated supporters. On behalf of Devon Air Ambulance, I would like to say a huge thank you to our community who not only keep us responding, but who provide us with opportunities to be a forward thinking, innovative organisation.”

The National Mobilisation app which provides VRS team members with location and details of incidents to attend.

iFor more information and statistics on the Volunteer Responder Scheme - daatcl.co.uk/vrs