Co-responders 'undoubtedly saved daughter's life'

A man from Cornwall who believes his daughter's life was saved by fire co-responders is urging an ambulance trust to rethink its decision to replace them with volunteers.

Adam Martin's daughter, Holly, 19, suffered a severe traumatic brain injury during a horse riding accident in 2021.

Medically trained firefighters, known as fire co-responders, were the first on scene. They are sent to category one emergencies in situations where they can reach a patient more quickly than an ambulance.

South Western Ambulance Service said its decision to replace fire co-responders with community first responders would mean an improved service that "better suits patient needs".

The trust said it had more than 650 volunteer community first responders and in 2024 they responded to 29,232 incidents across the region.

It said if, after a 12-month transition period, it had not recruited enough additional volunteers in a specific area it would "consider an alternative arrangement" for that location.

Fire co-responders attend incidents with a minimum of two people and they travel using blue lights, but they have to go to the fire station first.

Community first responders usually attend alone and often using their own vehicles without blue light training, but they can go direct from their home or workplace.

Ms Martin's injury occurred when her horse bolted on the family farm in Coverack, throwing her off and landing on her head on a stone track.

Mr Martin, the watch manager at St Keverne fire station and a fire co-responder, said a team was sent from nearby Mullion and were on the scene within about 20 minutes.

They "istered R and got Holly back into a stable breathing rhythm, which undoubtedly saved her life", he said.

Mr Martin said he was concerned his daughter might not have received the same level of care from a community first responder.

"Being able to blue light their way to us was a massive bonus, and two guys working in tandem is also a huge advantage," he said.

"It gives you confidence when there's two of you and you can rely on each other, you know each others skills... one of you is unpacking kit, another is assessing the patient."

Mr Martin said his daughter was still recovering from the accident and the brain damage it caused, but she was receiving intensive physiotherapy and continuing to make good progress.

Jane Whichello, head of volunteering at the ambulance trust, said she wanted to say "a huge thank you" to fire co-responders for the service they had given over many years.

She said as a paramedic herself she felt patients were "at the heart" of every decision made by the service.

"It's absolutely not our intention to remove something without having an alternative in place which is better for our patients," she said.

"I'd like to reassure people, it's not about stopping something, it's about replacing it with something we feel better suits patient needs."

Asked about fears some fire stations might be forced to close because of the change, Mrs Whichello said the trust was "continuing to talk to fire service colleagues".

On the issue of community first responders attending incidents alone, she said they had "a direct link to ambulance control" and could get "remote clinical " on scene, whereas messages from fire co-responders had to be relayed through fire control rooms.

Mrs Whichello said she was "not concerned about response times in most areas" because community first responders could respond directly from where they were, adding the trust would revisit the plan if it could not recruit enough community first responders.

"We have planned a 12-month transition for this programme, at the end of that 12 months it is possible there will be some pockets where we haven't been able to recruit to the level that we would like and we have to come up with an alternative arrangement," she said.

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