As a charity that provides pre-hospital care to the most critically ill and injured patients, there are a lot of similarities between how clinicians in the Armed Forces and Magpas Air Ambulance’s medical team work on the frontline.
This year, we partnered with the military to offer an Army Paramedic a placement with our service to help them gain frontline experience of trauma before deployment. Melissa tells us more about her experience...
What's your name and job title?
Melissa Duff, Army Paramedic. Currently working within Ground MERT (Medical Emergency Response Team) at 16 Medical Regiment.Â
How long have you been working with the Armed Forces?
I’ve been in the Army for 10 years. I was a Combat Medical Technician (CMT) for 6 years, prior to completing the Army Paramedic course in 2021. And I completed the military MERT course last September. Â
What made you want to pursue this career path?
There was a lot in the media about ongoing conflicts at the time I joined the Army, and I wanted to be deployed in operations to play my part in it.
I was always interested in the clinical pathway and working in MERT, and being a CMT was one of the most frontline jobs a woman could do in the Army at the time.
Can you describe the kinds of things you do in your line of work?
We are a high readiness unit, which means we always need to be prepared to deploy in operations overseas at short notice. To ensure this, our days consist of physical fitness training every morning, regular clinical training (including military training as well as maintaining hours with our NHS contracts) and managing and servicing all our equipment—so we can be ready to deploy at any time.
So far, I’ve been deployed to exercises in Canada and went to Afghanistan in 2020. I’ve also completed adventure training in all corners of the world, including skiing and diving, which have been amazing opportunities and definitely perks of the job!
How did the opportunity to do this placement with Magpas Air Ambulance come about?
It came from Andy Smith, Magpas Air Ambulance’s Clinical Operations Manager and one of the critical care paramedics, who wanted to establish links like this between our organisations. He was in the armed forces for many years and understands the similarities and benefits of learning from each other.
An application form went around to paramedics in the military. Three placements were available, one for an Army paramedic, one for the Royal Air Force and one for the Royal Navy. The Army placement was to take place with Magpas Air Ambulance, and the others with neighbouring charities... And I jumped at the opportunity.
Have you been exposed to much pre-hospital medicine before taking on this placement?
After becoming a paramedic, I spent two years full-time with the NHS, working with the Yorkshire Ambulance Service. This is stipulated in our military contracts and is a great way to build confidence, and gives us exposure to patient care every day. I still regularly work with the service to maintain shifts each month… Driving from Colchester each time!
However, although there are some things working on a normal ambulance can’t expose me to what I’d be expected to do in a deployed environment. That’s why this placement has been so beneficial.
How have you found working with the charity?
I've absolutely loved the placement with Magpas Air Ambulance. It’s been an amazing place to work and team to be a part of.
It can always be a challenge coming into new environments and working with new teams, but everyone has been so helpful and made me feel part of the team and appreciated. I’ve been included in discussions and debriefs and done simulation training with the clinicians, I’ve taken in so much just from being on base, yet alone when we’ve been out treating patients.
What are the benefits to your role by completing this placement with Magpas Air Ambulance?
I completed the MERT course last September but haven’t yet had real life exposure to the high-pressure missions I will work on when I get deployed. That’s why this placement has been invaluable for my clinical development. It’s given me real life experience.
The biggest benefit has been the patient-facing exposure and the experience of working in small teams and around an airframe—it’s just stuff that I’m not exposed to in my normal clinical role, and has so much relevance to what I’ll be doing in the future with MERT. However, even the little things, like being around the advanced skills, handling the kit and doing the controlled drugs checks, have been so helpful.
I have so much appreciation for Magpas Air Ambulance and am so thankful for such a good few weeks with the charity. Not only has it set me up as close as can be for the job I’ll do when I get deployed—allowing me to deliver high quality patient care—it’s also been so beneficial for my own personal development. I’ve learnt so much in such a short space of time and would be very happy if this is the kind of job I could come into in the future.
