Rumour getting around the sports motorcycle clubs that St. John is about to pull out of all attendances where higher level trauma is the primary injury type. Something about their level of training and insurance policy demands.
St John Ambulance is undertaking a systematic review of its event first aid service relationship with numerous corporate / 'higher risk' clients to ensure that there is a clear understanding of what (if any) are the regulatory requirements / standards of these organisations. It completed a review last year with CAMS (Confederation of Australian Motor Sport)and is currently undertaking this process with MA (Motorcycling Australia).
It is to ensure that the regulatory body has clear medical requirement guidelines and that these are understood by respective organsing clubs (which is very hit and miss - many clubs do not understand their own medical regulatory guidelines or standards - be it many different codes of motorsport or motorcycling). It is then to assess what the levels of care that St John currently provide and map these against the 'regulatory' guidelines etc.
The ideal is to generate a clear matrix or table to be used by both St John and the event organiser organisation clearly showing what events that St John is capable of providing a service based upon their regulatory standards.
A further layer to this is then to implement a risk management approach to the events that may fall into the scope of St John being able to cover but might be deemed to not be appropriate.
The above does not then mean that St John will cover an event, it simply means that we may satisfy the regulatory body minimum requirement to provide a first aid / medical service.
All of the above is designed to ensure that there is optimal service delivery by appropriately trained personnel in environments that are safe to all.
It also serves as a need analysis tool, to allow St John to identify where it might wish to increase its clinical / training scope and / or introduce additional equipment or persue possible business strategies... (this is just speculative and more food for thought)
Motorsport is a clear recruitment and retention tool for any event first aid / medical service provider - however it is well recognised that there needs to be a focus on having appropriately trained personnel, operating in a safe environment and complying with various regulatory body minimum standards.
Discussions are about to commence with ANDRA (Australian National Drag Racing Association) and will probably include NASR (National Association of Speedway Racing) in the near future.
should save a motor cyclist or two...
was that really necessary..
