Show all Medical/Dental/Health Care jobs in Scotland On s1jobs you can find many ways to take your medical career to new heights . . . but have you ever considered working in the skies over Scotland? Well, that’s the workplace of former Royal Air Force medic John Pritchard MBE. He has been a helicopter paramedic for 23 years and joined Scotland’s Charity Air Ambulance (SCAA) in 2013. We met up with John to find out more about his high-flying role.
Did you undergo special training? All our helicopter air ambulance paramedic staff undergo a Helicopter Emergency Medical Services (HEMS) Technical Crew Course. This involves understanding the principles of flight, meteorology, aircraft schematics, civilian aviation rules for air ambulance exemptions and aviation medicine.
What areas do you cover? The whole of Scotland and our many islands. We respond to all types of medical and trauma emergencies. The aircraft plays a vital role in getting expert paramedic care quickly to the scene and then transferring patients rapidly to specialist hospitals.
Have you ever been scared when flying? One of my worst experiences was flying to a road accident near Lockerbie and encountering severe mountain wave turbulence as we were flying over the Borders. The aircraft was getting thrown about a fair bit and it was the first time the shoulder harnesses had taken the strain, holding us in our seats.
How quickly can you get patients to hospital? The helicopter can turn a road journey of hours into a flight of just minutes, as it can fly a direct line over all landscapes, including sea, and cover two nautical miles a minute. All of our major hospitals in Scotland have helipads in their grounds or on the top of the hospital, such as Glasgow’s Queen Elizabeth.
What do you like most about the job? Touching down in so many areas across Scotland and working with different emergency and voluntary services. There is no greater job satisfaction than to pull together to save a life or improve conditions for those most in need. Not only do we fly across Scotland working with our colleagues from the Scottish Ambulance Service, doctors, nurses, community responders and other emergency services colleagues, but we’re privileged to meet organisations, businesses and people who support the work of the charity.
What’s your favourite view? There are so many beautiful sights as we fly across Scotland and its ever-changing vista with the seasons. From snow-capped mountains in the winter to the beautiful blue seas surrounding the islands. It’s too hard to pick just one location.
If you’d like to reach new highs in your own career, s1jobs can help you lift off with the latest Medical vacancies across Scotland.