It’s Armed Forces week, and we caught up with DHU Practitioner Rob Shoosmith – we’ve spoken to him before but after a busy year as a Reservist with the RAF, we thought it was time for an update! Here’s what he told us…
“I joined DHU as a Paramedic Practitioner from the Yorkshire Ambulance Service in April 2021 and work out of our Urgent Treatment Centres at the Chesterfield Royal Hospital, New Mills and Ashgate Medical Centre. This year I’ve been very active as a Reservist, spending two months with the RAF, training with them and working missions.
“I became an RAF reservist in 2016 and am delighted that DHU are able to support me in what I’m doing. I’ve learned a lot with the RAF this year, particularly how to repatriate patients back to the UK. I’ve now done that several times over the past year as I flew four missions with the RAF: two to the Falklands, one to Cyprus and one to Germany.
“I led one of the Falklands missions as I was the most senior and experienced clinician. I was working alongside two nurses, and an RAF medic, to bring some of the Falklands residents with cardiac problems back to the UK for essential healthcare, and I was asked to lead because I have had experience seeing, assessing and treating cardiac patients whilst working with DHU.
“The mission was more than 18 hours each way and part of my role involved making sure the plane was correctly equipped with what we’d need to treat these patients. In a hospital, if something’s missing it can be sent for, but in a plane, there is no room for error and it’s about planning the journey and the patient’s needs thoroughly, to be able to lead the team and keep the patient comfortable.
“Both DHU and I have benefitted significantly from this experience, and the RAF benefit from the experience and learnings that I have had within DHU. For example, the RAF asked me to develop and present paediatric training as they sometimes must deal with injured or unwell children, for example in the Afghan withdrawal.
“For the last year, I have been on the RAF’s High Readiness Reservist list and will continue to be so for the forthcoming year. This means that I could be deployed at short notice of 24–48 hours for a mission to help with a sudden and serious humanitarian event such as an earthquake, flood or localised major incident. DHU has been very supportive in enabling me to become a High Readiness Reservist.
“The partnership between DHU and the RAF provides reassurance that any additional costs incurred to cover my shifts during any absence will be paid by the RAF. In return, they have the benefit of my experience, which is invaluable to the armed forces. DHU have been awarded the Armed Forces Covenant Silver Award, which means that they have committed to a certain level of support towards the Armed Forces, including additional leave to ensure I can fulfil my RAF training commitments whilst still allowing me to spend time with my family.
“The skills that I have learnt as a Reservist, particularly leadership and different kinds of medical training have enhanced my skills as a Practitioner. By extension, the skills I use daily as a Practitioner are invaluable to the Armed Forces and provide specialised experience that they can use at times of need. The roles complement each other very well and my confidence to work in a variety of locations and teams, to take on various roles, and to work calmly and methodically in unexpected and high-stress situations has increased. It really is a brilliant mutual agreement and I’m lucky that DHU is so supportive in this.”