About SCAS
We provide traditional 999 emergency services, as well as non-emergency patient transport services, NHS 111 services and logistics, commercial and training services across Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Hampshire and Oxfordshire to a population of over 4 million people. Despite a number of densely populated urban cities such as Southampton, Portsmouth, Reading, Oxford and Milton Keynes, our operational area is classified as predominantly rural.
Our clinical coordination centres are based in Bicester and Otterbourne and receive on average over 1800 emergency calls every day. We have a fleet of 279 emergency vehicles from over 30 sites across the region.
SCAS frontline staff
To meet this demand we have more than 1500 paramedics, technicians and emergency care assistants on the road delivering excellent frontline care. Our specialist paramedics and nurses have additional skills such as the treatment of minor injuries and illness and provision of advanced care for long term conditions. The enhanced paramedic role is a step between a paramedic and a clinical mentor. HART is a team of paramedics specifically trained and equipped to deliver first class care to patients who are injured or ill in hazardous environments. SCAS has a team of highly experienced doctors who respond to emergencies to support crews. We also have an Enhanced Care Response Unit (ECRU) covering the Thames Valley, and two air ambulances to take the care, once only available in hospital, to the patients’ side.
Research
Participation in clinical research demonstrates the Trust’s commitment to improving the quality of care we offer and to making our contribution to wider health improvement. By enabling clinical staff to stay abreast of the latest treatment possibilities, we optimise patient outcomes.
The areas of engagement during 2015-16 were:
- Prehospital Assessment of the Role of Adrenaline: Measuring the Effectiveness of Drug administration in Cardiac arrest (PARAMEDIC 2), a large multi-centre randomised controlled study of adrenaline in pre-hospital cardiac arrest with Warwick University and other ambulance trusts.
- Understanding variation in rates of non-conveyance to an emergency department of emergency ambulance users (VAN)
- Impact of closing Emergency Department in England (closED)
- A study of sense-making strategies and help-seeking behaviours associated with the use and provision of urgent care services.
- Exploring factors increasing Paramedics’ Likelihood of initiating Analgesia IN pre-hospital Pain (EXPLAIN)
- Contributing data to the ‘Out of Hospital Cardiac Arrest outcomes (OHCAO) study
Research facilities
We are fortunate to have access to a medical library service provided by Royal Berkshire Foundation Trust. Staff members may access journal articles electronically via the Open Athens system. The trust librarians are usually able to access articles not directly available to SCAS via the inter-library loans service. The librarians also provide a literature searching service to SCAS staff. If you have a clinical question, as long as it is not for an assessed piece of work, the librarians will search the literature for you and provide you with a list of abstracts. You are also entitled to a SWIMS library card (South and West Information Management System) that allows access to hospital libraries across the South West, Wessex and Thames Valley regions.
SCAS staff have access to the monthly Pre-hospital Emergency Services Awareness Update to help keep abreast of developments in their sphere of practice.
Contact for research-related matters
Martina Brown, Research & Clinical Audit Manager