Compassionate yet detached

The UK capital was recently struck by a heinous terror attack. As the nation watched the events unfold on TV, authorities and citizens were most impressed with the speed and efficiency of police and the paramedics. The Ambulance Service declared the attack as a ‘major incident’. Social media was flooded with comments regarding what this meant, as it was already obvious for the whole nation that the attack was a ‘major incident’.

Translated to paramedic practice, declaring a ‘major incident’ helps with the command and control of dealing with the incident. It allows timely reallocation of resources. Despite continued pressure placed upon the emergency services, especially the ambulance service, it was evident that an efficient and effective tri-partied emergency response is readily available as and when required. Having this incident declared as a ‘major incident’, relatively early within the continuum of the event, allows for the infrastructure and processes to be managed through a set procedure, which spans all three blue light services, HEMS and other supporting resources.