PROUD trainee doctor from Thames Valley Air ambulance explains what it’s like to spend Christmas on call and be part of the team.

James Dearman is one of 7 doctors in training who work for Thames Valley Air Ambulance, he has been doing his pre-hospital training for the last 18 months as part of his two-year placement to become a consultant.

This will be his first Christmas on call with Thames Valley Air Ambulance and as a dedicated member of the team one of his responsibilities is to work over the Christmas period.

Mr Dearman said: “I’m aware that I might be called out over Christmas and it would be a shame not to spend Christmas with my family but its an honour to be able to fly out and help someone if they need us on Christmas day.”

For James, being on call also means spending his Birthday on boxing day helping others when they need it most. As well as time apart from his wife, who is expecting a baby anytime soon.

Doctor Dearman added: “it’s fine working on my Birthday because we have a really nice crew who always create a really nice atmosphere and are just incredible people.”

During a flight on the way to an emergency his role as a doctor is to plan what the team are going to do when they arrive at the scene.

James said: “ I will be thinking ahead about what information we already have about the patient and making plans about what we are going to do and which hospital we are going to go to.

“Although we get training in what to expect when arriving at an emergency it can still be a very nerve-racking job with lots of pressure, but I absolutely love it.”

James Dearman has always been interested in the medical profession from an early age.

“I used to sit up with my mum watching ER, a medical drama, which is when I first started thinking about having a medical career.”

“I love dealing with people and the idea of helping them and even if you are in situations that are really challenging hopefully we can improve that scenario for patients.”

This year has been a huge year for James and the rest of the Thames Valley Air Ambulance team, on Monday, October 1 they took to the skies for the first time as an independent healthcare provider and became completely reliant on community funding.

He added: “It’s really good because it means we can respond quicker to what we think the needs of our community are.

“We’ve been able to get a load of new paramedics and expanded our response by car. We’ve got four cars now as well as the helicopter, which carry the same equipment but just provide an alternative way of getting to an emergency.”

As a result of the changes this year the team have been able to respond to double the amount of calls in the last month.