Cambridge medical students volunteer with ambulance service

The students have completed their training with the Trust, and are now regularly volunteering their time to respond to medical emergencies in the city. While they bring clinical knowledge from their university training, they will work strictly within an established scope of practice.

They will join the existing Cambridge Student and Community First Responders (SCFR) team, which was formed in 2015 and dedicated to supporting emergency medical care in and around Cambridge. The SCFR scheme is one of the few joint student-CFR initiatives in the UK.

The volunteers carry essential life-saving equipment including a defibrillator, enabling them to begin treating patients as soon as they arrive on scene, and before ambulance crews arrive.

The SCFR team has a dedicated vehicle based at Cambridge ambulance station, which can also operate from strategic standby locations across Cambridge, helping to improve response times to life-threatening calls.

The SCFR’s are supported by the East of England Ambulance Service Charity, with the response car being kindly donated. The group replies on public support and donations to fund additional life-saving equipment and the ongoing running costs of the group.

Jonathan Needle, EEAST’s Community Response Manager for Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, commended the new CFRs for their professionalism, enthusiasm, and dedication. He said: “The sixteen new volunteer responders will make a meaningful difference in the early minutes of medical emergencies, strengthening the chain of survival for patients across Cambridge and we are delighted to welcome them to our community first responder team.”