Pete Mahoney – Flight Doctor

Professor Pete Mahoney is a senor anaesthetist based at Selly Oak Hospital in Birmingham. Pete has worked with other UK Air Ambulance services and is a regular member of the County Air Ambulance team based at RAF Cosford.

A day in the life of Flight Doctor Peter Mahony

“My normal job is split between clinical and academic work. The academic is based around trauma research and the clinical around anaesthesia and critical care in Birmingham.  This means that I can be receiving patients brought in by the helicopter crews when working with the trauma team at the Hospital.

A typical day - if there is such a thing - with the Air Ambulance starts with the duty crew checking the medical equipment on the helicopter then getting the aircraft out of the hangar.  Everyone helps with this. We have our daily brief from the pilot, as we all need to know if there are particular hazards to look out for in the surrounding area during the shift. This might include hang gliding, parachuting or microlights and we don’t want to bump into them! Depending on who is on duty, we generally decide who is going to do what at the scene of an incident- this helps give efficient patient care. An important part of the role is linking in with the emergency crews on scene: the helicopter service is part of the overall response in the West Midlands- not separate from this.

This pre-hospital work complements the hospital duties and research described earlier.  Some of our call outs are over very quickly- we may be ‘stood down’ if a land crew has decided the patient’s injuries are not severe. Alternatively, we may be on scene for a long time, such as at a serious road accident where people are trapped”.

It’s all part of a varied day working for County Air Ambulance.