GWAAC Clinical Engagement
Sharing knowledge
Great Western Air Ambulance Charity produces a number of programmes designed to share knowledge and skills with clinical professionals.
Clinical Governance
Our crew have monthly clinical governance days designed to educate our crew and improve our service. We have now begun to open these days to clinical professionals looking to find out more about our work.
Clinical Outreach
We have developed some enhanced training for paramedics and nurses responding to 999 calls on behalf of SWAST including private and voluntary providers. An opportunity to practice and simulate clinical skills and scenarios.
GWAAC Masterclasses - stay tuned for details of the next event
Our last GWAAC Masterclass:
Warfighting at Scale – It’s Not Just The Military Who Need To Be Ready
Dr Tom James outlined how the evolving character of warfare—from cyber disruption and information warfare to stress on national infrastructure—requires a whole-of-society approach to preparedness. He explained how conflict at scale can produce effects across critical sectors such as energy, logistics, finance and communications, emphasizing that effective readiness demands coordinated planning between defence, government, industry and civil organizations. Nowhere will this be more critical than healthcare and the NHS.
Dr James is a consultant in Emergency Medicine in the Defence Medical Services. He has been part of the team at GWAAC since 2012. He has deployed on a range of operational tours and is currently helping to develop military pre-hospital emergency care to meet the challenges of large-scale combat operations.
Clinical Governance
Whilst the primary objective of these days is education of our crew, the majority of these days are open to a limited number of external healthcare professionals keen to find out more about the work we do. These range from paramedics who have attended jobs alongside us and hospital doctors who wish to learn more about the care delivered before hospital, to those who are keen to join the team or work for other air ambulances and wish to share learning.
Clinical Outreach
The days are run by experienced Specialist Paramedics in Critical Care and are open to all frontline ambulance staff responding within the South Western Ambulance Service area of operation.
Masterclasses, Symposiums
For example, in 2023 ACP-CC Vicki Brown presented a keynote speech at the Bristol Distinguished Address Series with UWE Events.
In 2024 we held our fifth Clinical Symposium a conference with guest speakers from the world of PHEM.
In 2024 Critical Care Doctor Glyn ran 12-Lead ECG masterclasses.
In 2025, Critical Care Doctor Paddy hosted an Evening Masterclass titled "Drowning - Myths, Management and Heroics"
These programmes will be available to all clinical professionals unless otherwise stated.
See the resources we have produced for paramedics and other healthcare professionals.
Help train the next generation of lifesavers
We are looking for basic life support trained professionals who are able to volunteer their time to deliver Great Western Hearts training sessions to students in secondary schools across our region. Our hour-long sessions involve a group demonstration and practical exercises based on the DRS-ABC method, including how to use an AED. Each session is tailored to the length of a school lesson and can be up to an hour long.
In 2024, our Heartstarters volunteers visited nearly a quarter of the schools in our region, training over 6,000 school children with these potentially lifesaving skills. Combine this with the training they did with our corporate and community groups as well, this brings the total of people trained to well around 25,000 since the programme's inception in 2016. But we don't want to stop there.
