Experienced paramedic retires after more than 40 years service

Tue 5th January 2010 2.23PM

ARUTHIN man has said goodbye to North Wales Ambulance service after a career spanning five decades. Gwyn Thomas is hanging up his jacket after completing 44 years of service in the emergency medical service profession which has touched all parts of the UK. Thanks to his commitment to training and developing medical skills, many staff on the road now have had the privilege of being ‘Thomas Trained’. But it was back in the sixties that Gwyn decided on a life of helping people in need, despite learning a useful building trade. Gwyn remembered : “While I was in my younger years I wanted to join St John’s and I managed to get in. At that time, the out of hours service for the ambulance service was run by St John’s and the Red Cross in Ruthin which gave me valuable experience working in the ambulances.

Alongside that I also did an apprenticeship in plastering. “In 1965 joined the Denbighshire Ambulance Service and became an ambulance man in Ruthin. In the morning we used to do the clinic runs, there were two or three crews doing that and whoever was in first went to Mrs Heal’s cake shop and picked up sausage rolls. “She was always very generous, you went to pick up six sausage rolls, she gave you nine and of course when we did the afternoon clinic runs we went for cake and came back with much more than we had asked for!” After 10 years, Gwyn was promoted to Leading Ambulance man in Ruthin and was in charge of a group of four staff at the ambulance station. He completed a pre-instructor course at Wrenbury Hall, in Cheshire which helped the Ruthin man’s career take off with the first signs of ‘Thomas the Trainer’ emerging.

He explained: “Alongside working for the service, I also worked for the Red Cross in North Wales and that’s where I started in First Aid courses, one of which was industrial first aid at work. I also began to get involved with the British Safety Council. This lasted a number of years and it helped me get a lot of teaching experience under my belt, mainly done at Abergele Training Centre.” Gwyn completed his DHSS instructor course in 1980 and in 1984 he was seconded as an instructor on four six week basic first aid courses at Liverpool Regional Ambulance Training School. A huge advancement in the eighties was the introduction of defibrillators in North Wales which Gwyn played an integral part. “The highlight for me was the first defibrillator introduced by a relative of a patient in Mold who had suffered a cardiac arrest.

The family wanted to buy the defibrillator as a thank you. The next step was to set up a cardiac course to enable all medical staff to use the equipment. I had to liaise with all staff at hospitals, that was quite a challenge but we trained an awful lot of people. “Very few of the ambulance staff failed to achieve the required standards and since the introduction of the equipment, many lives have been saved. No sooner was he finished with one milestone in the ambulance service, Gwyn put his training head to the test with the introduction of the Paramedic status in the then Clwyd Ambulance Service in 1988 He said: “The year before I participated as an instructor on the first NHSTD Ambulance Paramedic Course to be held at Liverpool which gave me valuable experience. I took the experience with me and helped set up our own paramedic training. We got the accreditation, it was brilliant, it was a major milestone, it is safe to say I’ve trained an awful lot of paramedics in North Wales.

“The system was so good and the teaching was so good that the majority of the students passed first time. A lot of paramedics now are Thomas trained, a lot will remember the courses not just for the work but for the great fun we had. Later that year, Gwyn became a resuscitation training officer and as a result of this post, tutored on Advanced Paediatric Life Support Courses at Bolton, Liverpool and Oxford after becoming a member of the Faculty of Advanced Life Support at Hope Hospital, Manchester. “I was able to pass on this experience to ambulance staff in North Wales and the training programme I developed at the Acute Unit in North Clwyd played a major part in winning a National Training Award for the Clwyd Ambulance Service. Since then Gwyn continued developing training and clinical governance in the ambulance service by holding the posts of acting training superintendant, training manager for North Wales Ambulance Service, Regional Welsh Ambulance Service training manager and senior clinical operations officer.

He finishes in the service as national equipment manager: “The biggest highlight in this role has to be the new ambulances and being involved with their design and the equipment carried by the vehicles.” Gwyn added: “What gives me the greatest pleasure is being able to help people learn and see them develop; I would like to think that I have passed down a lot of my skills over the years. I think we have got a terrific bunch of people working with us, I would not hear a bad word said against them. I think they are doing their job very well. “I have been on an incredible journey, who would have thought that I would still be talking about the ambulance service 44 years later. I have made some fantastic friends, some very special people, I have been privileged.”