Category: Medical

24hrs in A and E Episode 1

The Lack of Routine 24 hours in A and E is a ‘fly on the wall’ documentary recording the highs and lows of working in the emergency department of King’s College Hospital. On first glance the premise of the show sounds at best slightly gimmicky and at worst highly exploitative. The first episode manages to

One Born Every Minute

                            I’ve written alot about the police, the firebrigade, even ambulance workers on this website. But I’ve never really written about those who work in a hospital on a regular basis. On one level it is obvious that hospital workers are emergency

Flying To The Rescue

An Interview with Robert Cocks MD How long have you been a doctor, and how did you get to where you are today? I studied at the Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine in London from 1976-1981, so I have been qualified for 31 years now! For the first 9 years I trained to be

The pay is just a bonus

This is an account of jeramedic, a young paramedic living and working in the United States. He is not a seasoned paramedic of forty years, bitter with experience about the  service, but nor is he a green recruit fresh out of training with no stories to tell. He is in a grey area in between

Ambulance Injuries: mapped!

Following Nick Stylianou‘s revelations last week that there was an average of 100 injuries a month to ambulance workers across London, we’ve mapped the data to each ambulance station. The largest number of injuries was recorded at Whipps Cross ambulance station, with 256. The next highest, however, was Romford with 233 injuries since 2008. Romford’s

Hello, Guides: How to be a Paramedic (Part 2)

So far we have established that university is one possible route to towards the world of paramedics. But what else is there? The other option is getting on through an NHS trust. This is also a surprisingly difficult path as many of the trusts have had a ‘glut’ of applications in recent years and can’t

Ambulance staff: 100 injuries a month!

Over the last three years (from January 2008 to October 2011), there were over 5,000 injuries to London Ambulance Service workers. That’s an average of over 100 a month. This is all according to data released under a Freedom of Information request by Nick Stylianou. The largest number of reported injuries was in December 2010,

Hello, Guides: How to be a Paramedic (Part 1)

Speaking to people who have spent years in the emergency services has made me wonder how many of them got started. Paramedics for example, how exactly does one become allowed to drive in an ambulance and how long does it take? Here is what I have found. First and foremost, what does a  paramedic actually

Exercise Forward Defensive: Audio Slideshow

For two days, London’s combined emergency response force staged a large-scale training exercise simulating a terror attack during the Olympic Games. Featuring all of the emergency services, as well as specialist transport divisions, the huge rescue and containment operation was deemed to be a success by Home Secretary Theresa May. With a press presence and

Hello, History: The London (Part 5)

In our Hello, History series, we turn back the clock to look at significant periods for the emergency services. Laura Blott is an MA student in Public History at Royal Holloway, University of London. She’s agreed to take us on a whistle-stop tour of The Royal London Hospital during the Second World War, detailing the

It’s mostly a sleep thing

In the second of our  interviews with professionals from around the world, I spoke to  paramedic Jeramiah Bush, a paramedic from California about the stresses and strains of his job. As I switch on my computer and activate the Skype icon I have to confess I get a funny feeling in my stomach. I mean this

Hello, History: The London (Part 4)

In our Hello, History series, we turn back the clock to look at significant periods for the emergency services. Laura Blott is an MA student in Public History at Royal Holloway, University of London. She’s agreed to take us on a whistle-stop tour of The Royal London Hospital during the Second World War, detailing the

Hello, History: The London (Part 3)

In our Hello, History series, we turn back the clock to look at significant periods for the emergency services. Laura Blott is an MA student in Public History at Royal Holloway, University of London. She’s agreed to take us on a whistle-stop tour of The Royal London Hospital during the Second World War, detailing the

Who you calling a Paramedic?

@Secret_Medic kicks off our debate over Channel 4’s new series, Party Paramedics: 2011 saw a slew of stories about what we call “alternative care pathways” for those a little more inebriated than they had intended. For a while I was beginning to think the London Ambulance Service booze bus had its own media team with

Hello, History: The London (Part 2)

In our Hello, History series, we turn back the clock to look at significant periods for the emergency services. Laura Blott is an MA student in Public History at Royal Holloway, University of London. She’s agreed to take us on a whistle-stop tour of The Royal London Hospital during the Second World War, detailing the

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