麻豆社

Watching some hospital dramas on TV leads us to imagine that the NHS really does employ emergency doctors to go to victims suffering major trauma.

The truth is, most of the country relies on doctors volunteering their time - like the ones who work for the medical charity BASICS in Hampshire.

Roadside anaesthesia buys precious time.

They say lives are being lost because nearly half the time - when you most need doctors at the scene of an accident - they want to come to help you but they can't.

That's because, outside London, they are not officially employed to get to victims suffering trauma.

So they may be doing their day job, looking after patients in hospital. It's only when they're not working that they can attend.

Inside Out met two doctors who work for the BASICS charity in Hampshire.

We talked to Cliff Reid whose decision on a Saturday off to answer a 999 call helped save a child's life in extraordinary circumstances.

We also spoke with Phil Hyde, who kept a video diary over a month recording the incidents he attended.

Phil Hyde's experiences

Phil's video diary is hard to watch but tells a very vivid story.

In the early hours of New Year's Day Barry Moody fell from a second floor balcony.

Barry was bleeding on the brain, had breathing difficulties - and all the ambulances in the area were tied up.

Paramedic Peter Thorpe got to him first - to be joined by Dr Phil Hyde. For an hour they worked together to deal with his injuries. Dr Hyde was able to anaesthetize Barry and put him on a breathing machine.

Working together for the best outcome.

Barry's father Colin used to be a paramedic. He says, "If Phil hadn't been there, I don't think my son would have made it to hospital."

Mr Moody isn't dismissing the work of his former colleagues - nor are the volunteer doctors. Paramedics are a vital part of the emergency chain. But unlike doctors they cannot anaesthetize patients or put them on breathing machines - which buys time to get those patients to the most appropriate hospital rather than the nearest.

Barry is now recovering in hospital.

His father says, "Emergency doctors at the scene are a godsend to any ambulance service... as any paramedic worth their salt knows".

Emergency treatment and survival rates

Research indicates that an emergency doctor helping a patient with grave trauma at an accident scene means that patient is twice as likely to survive and recover more quickly and better.

Doctors like Phil Hyde want their work to be incorporated into the NHS, so they can be there for 100% of the calls.

The organisation that decides the level of ambulance service for a large part of the听 South of England is the Buckinghamshire Primary Care Trust.

Its Finance Director, Linda Morris, acknowledges the contribution of the volunteer doctors but says their major role is to back up to paramedics and is only critical in very rare cases.

The Primary Care Trust says it is open to evidence, but that medical resources need to be properly targeted.

The Hampshire team of emergency doctors say they were able to respond to 48 calls in one month alone, and they believe that, in 12 of those, they were able to make a significant difference to their patients.

Recent reports into pre-hospital emergency care are on the emergency doctors' side, but - until now - it is a discussion that has not been fully aired in public.