It's international Paramedics Day on Friday 8 July and we're celebrating and promoting the work of our 11 Paramedics at the Trust.
Our paramedics work in Rapid Access teams to prevent hospital admission and help early discharge from hospital, work in our Health and Justice services and deliver the Trust’s CPR training.
Meet some of our Paramedics
Helen King
"Hi! I’m Helen, I’m a Paramedic with the Rapid Response Team in Kensington and Chelsea for CNWL. I work within a multidisciplinary team of nurses, physios, OTs and pharmacists and our combined role is to reduce hospital admissions by supporting patients who are acutely unwell in the community. As a paramedic, I am able to respond to the variety of situations and environments that we meet in the community, making decisions about acutely unwell patients. Adaptability and responding to critical situations are fundamental to a paramedic’s work. We have a problem-solving attitude that brings benefits to working in the community and providing holistic care for our patients. Best of all, we always know where to get a good cup of tea!"
Adam Haslam
“My role as a Resuscitation Trainer at CNWL requires not only knowledge of the subject but hopefully an opportunity to offer real insight to staff based on my experiences as a Paramedic with London Ambulance Service. Classes contain delegates from a wide and varied medical background which gives the sessions a very diverse and multi skilled feel to them and as a trainer this is what makes the courses both interesting and challenging.
The Resus team also carry out emergency ‘grab bag’ checks and implement ‘dummy arrests’ using a Resus Annie. We usually arrive at a community or inpatient site unannounced, shout for help and assess how staff manage the incident, then give feedback and suggest where improvements can be made. Our staff are largely inexperienced in dealing with cardiac arrests so this is a valuable insight for them and for us!”
Mark Singleton
As the Trust Resuscitation Manager, I lead the Trust’s Resuscitation team in delivering Resuscitation training and giving staff members advice on defibrillators and other emergency equipment as well as emergency care. We appreciate that having to manage a cardiac arrest, or someone with a high risk of having one, is a very stressful experience. Thankfully this is not frequent for most CNWL staff members. We try to reflect this within the training and support that we provide. My role includes finding new training equipment, that is affordable such as the QCPR manikins that give feedback on the CPR delivered. These have been well received by staff members that have practised on them.
It was fantastic that we were able to carry on delivering training and providing support to staff through the recent COVID pandemic, which has been a very challenging time for everyone.
Melinda Varcoe, David Dillon and Gail Newman - Rapids and Home First Pathway, Westminster
In the Westminster Rapid Response team, we have three Paramedics, Gail, Dave and Mel. We all have years of experience in pre -hospital and emergency care. This background really suits working for the rapid response team as we are able to use our assessment skills to quickly assess our patients and provide holistic patient care. Although we may at times miss the fast paced and high pressure of the ambulance service, being able to provide our patients with appropriate care at home is always rewarding.
We are having a lunch and CPD event at Trust HQ from 12pm to 2pm on Friday 8 July. We have a message from Suzanne Rastrick Chief AHP Officer, Liz Harris from the College of Paramedics, Maria O’Brien CNWL Chief Nurse and Ryan Kemp Director of Therapies who will be attending in person. The event is being led by Johanne Watson Chief Physiotherapist and Trust Head of Paramedic profession
Look out for the International Paramedic Day mugs funded by the CNWL Charity.