A Senior Emergency Medical Advisor for SECAmb is supporting a national stroke campaign urging people to act FAST even if they don’t show all the signs. In July, Mollie Blackman, based at our control centre in Medway, took a call from a 58-year-old Dionne Hudson from Surrey after her arm went numb one evening and she couldn’t grip her phone. While she couldn’t raise her arm, Dionne’s face and speec
A part-time Horley gardener had the chance to meet his lifesavers thanks to his customer who was once a paramedic and worked for the ambulance service. Thanking the team for their quick-actions, former SECAmb employee Justin Wand had nothing but praise to offer the team who helped his friend and gardener who went into anaphyxic shock following a wasp sting. Marc Caldwell was stung by a wasp while
Patients across Surrey and Frimley South are set to benefit from the launch of two multi-disciplinary clinical hubs. The virtual Unscheduled Care Navigation Hubs (UNCHs) will see South East Coast Ambulance Service (SECAmb) work more closely in partnership with hospital and community trusts across the county to ensure patients receive the appropriate response, first time and reduce emergency depart
A 15-year-old girl who collapsed in cardiac arrest was reunited with her lifesavers including Tina Shepherd, one of the Trust’s longest-serving EMA coaches who took the 999 call, alongside fire service teams in an emotional reunion recently. Grace, now aged 16, was out with her group of friends in the local community of Isle of Grain on the evening of 6 March. The group were running through a fiel
A grandad who suffered a cardiac arrest has reunited with the “superheroes” who saved his life. Russell Jennings, 62, was watching TV at his home in Brighton Road, Worthing, on the morning of Tuesday 28 May when he went grey and unresponsive. His wife, Kate, 54, rushed downstairs and called for help and their neighbours, Gareth and Gemma, who run Beer No Evil micropub, ran upstairs to help. Garet
The bravery and quick thinking of two young children from Chatham, Kent, ensured their mum received the medical care she needed from ambulance colleagues. Seven-year-old Nyah-Lei and five-year-old Leon Junior were brave enough to call 999 for their mum, Dominique, who had collapsed and come over faint with extreme abdominal pain, on 21 June 2024. Dominique, a mum of three, had been experiencing ba
Do you want to learn new skills and make a difference to our ambulance service? We are recruiting Chaplains across SECAmb and are keen to hear from anyone who can bring enthusiasm, reliability, and commitment to this role. Chaplaincy volunteers play an important part within our ambulance support network and provide pastoral support and care of staff, assisting them through any life problems or di
SECAmb has welcomed recent sentences for people who have assaulted ambulance crews and other emergency services workers. They include a six-month prison sentence handed to a 24-year-old Bexhill man who assaulted a paramedic by punching them in their upper left arm, and a rehabilitation and community order for a 48-year-old Canterbury man who spat on an emergency care support worker and a police o
Patients across the region are set to benefit from the rollout of additional multi-disciplinary clinical hubs, designed to ensure 999 calls are receiving the most appropriate response, and reduce the number of patients being taken to emergency departments. South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SECAmb) is working with its four Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) and provider trusts acr
More than a hundred people came together this week to mark the outstanding achievements of some of our SECAmb Stars, who have recently completed their learning. The Celebrating Success Ceremony, held on 1 October, recognised the achievements of 60 of our learners including Emergency Care Support Workers (ECSWs), Associate Ambulance Practitioners (AAPs), Advanced Paramedic Practitioners (APPs) and