Experienced Wiltshire Air Ambulance paramedic Ben Abbott is passing on his knowledge to his new crewmate, James Hubbard.
Abbott, who recently qualified as a critical care paramedic, is mentoring Hubbard who joined Wiltshire Air Ambulance five months ago.
Abbott, 34, has been a paramedic with Wiltshire Air Ambulance for just over two years. To become a critical care paramedic, he had to demonstrate competency in administering drugs for pain relief and sedation; carrying out surgical techniques; as well as completing a post-graduate masters certificate in pre-hospital critical care at Plymouth University.
He is also trained in aviation skills, including using Night Vision Goggles when flying at night.
Abbott and Hubbard are employed by South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust and seconded to Wiltshire Air Ambulance.
Before he joined Wiltshire Air Ambulance, Abbot was a road ambulance paramedic in Bath, Somerset. He has worked in the ambulance service for eight years and before that was a physiotherapist for three years.
Hubbard, 31, a trainee critical care paramedic, previously worked as a road paramedic in Gloucestershire and latterly as operations officer managing a team of five paramedics at the Hazardous Area Response Team based in Bristol.
“It’s an honor to work at Wiltshire Air Ambulance, and it’s great to have qualified as a critical care paramedic,” said Abbot. “Working here is very rewarding. We treat the most seriously injured or critically ill patients, and our skills really can make a difference, such as giving pre-hospital blood transfusions.
“Meeting patients after they have recovered is humbling, and we are well supported by the people of Wiltshire who fund-raise to keep us flying and saving lives. The team gets on really well, and it’s great to work with James. As well as being able to impart my experience with James, I’m learning from him. [From] his previous role as an operational officer, he has a lot of experience in managing scenes of incidents,” added Abbot.
“Working at Wiltshire Air Ambulance is very different to what I was doing before – it’s a different pace and intensity,” said Hubbard. “I wanted to work here to further my clinical scope of practice and use those skills in a dynamic, fast-moving environment.
“I’m really enjoying it, everyone here is great. The team is very supportive and everyone works really well together. The paramedics and pilots have a huge amount of experience and are very good at passing that on. Ben is a great mentor and works hard to maintain his knowledge and skill base. I’m very fortunate to be working with Ben.”
Hubbard and Abbot are both looking forward to moving to the charity’s new airbase at Semington, near Melksham, which is due to be operational by next summer.
“The new airbase looks fantastic, and it’s going to be a really good place to work,” said Hubbard.
“I’m really excited about working at the new airbase. It will be state-of-the-art and bring together the operational crews and the charity team,” said Abbot. “[It will also] have training rooms and better facilities for visitors.”
Before they joined the aircrew, Abbot and Hubbard both fund-raised for Wiltshire Air Ambulance. Abbot ran the Bath Half Marathon in 2015, while Hubbard completed the Ice Run challenge — driving across a frozen lake in Siberia on an old Russian motorcycle and sidecar with a friend in 2016.
Hubbard was also a volunteer with Wiltshire Air Ambulance, representing the charity at check presentations, running fundraising events, and giving talks.
