00:02You wouldn't think there was any great similarity between the helicopter world,
00:06air ambulance and Formula One. It's split-second decisions, safety critical
00:11and communication is absolutely key. Anything anywhere to get us in the air
00:16quicker, get us to seeing quicker, then we'll look at anything we can. One day I
00:21was actually in the hangar listening to the team getting ready for a shout. I
00:26started my stopwatch. I thought be interested to see how long it takes to
00:29get out there and off they went about five minutes later. If they could reduce
00:34that time, that time might save somebody's life one day. So I started
00:38talking to the team about it and how we might go about a continual improvement
00:43process. I thought there were so many similarities to my previous life in
00:46Formula One. Why not put the two together? So we're hugely excited about today.
00:51Hopefully we can learn a lot from you but hopefully you might take a bit of
00:53Cornwall back with you. So to have the very best in motorsport, come to Liège
00:59the very best in critical care and air ambulances is a huge privilege. We've got
01:03our chief pilot here, we've got a representative from Leonardo helicopters
01:06there, development pilot, but also our brilliant clinicians are here as well.
01:10We're really looking forward to it today and just working with experts in
01:12their field and just finding opportunities and ways that we can
01:16change and improve those processes again for the patient.
01:20I approached all the Formula One teams and sort of said you know who'd like to come
01:24down for the day. So team manager from Williams, very bright girl from McLaren,
01:28she came along, one of the senior guys at Mercedes and also from Aston Martin.
01:32People who have been at the sharp end in Formula One knew what was required to make
01:37success in Formula One work and could help us with the air ambulance.
01:40Your goal standard is 2 minutes 40 from red switch to wheels leading the ground.
01:46Success for Formula One teams, winning the race potentially, success for us to get into
01:51a patient in their worst hour of need and making a huge difference and potentially
01:55saving their life. We need to try and condense everything else down into as close as
01:59possibly to that 2 minute 40 period. So there's 2 minutes 20 on the table from my
02:04point of view that we've got to try and shave off. And then we started to look at the operational
02:08side, the helicopter side, the medical side and how their input, the input from the Formula
02:14One teams could improve on things. And it was an interesting day and a two-way flow.
02:21The minimum that we always take to see would be both these rucksacks which are about 17 kilos
02:26each and that monitor which sits on the bridge there.
02:30So Dave, this kind of reminds you of when you guys have to run to the grid, isn't it? You've
02:34got a certain amount of stuff that has to go from the big garage onto the grid.
02:39There was great connectivity between the two sides. They both saw similarities. There
02:43was a freedom of information, a flow of information between everybody.
02:48The probably biggest variable is a red flag. So we've gone to the grid with a kit and then
02:52obviously there's a red flag at some point in the race. And we use most of that kit then
02:56to go back. And the discipline there is to make sure it's been put back in the same place.
03:00And you can come there and that becomes your muster point where all your electronics and
03:06your helmets are.
03:08So you're either taking your helmet and going that way with everything. Or you're not taking
03:12your helmet and going that way.
03:14I think we can take that mindset and those principles and expand those out into lots of
03:19the other processes that we have in our day-to-day workflow.
03:29We set about trying to reduce time. Well, that we did. That we did in bundles. We're down
03:37now to probably save 30% off the takeoff time. But it wasn't just that. It was about having
03:44this culture of constant improvement and getting the motivation between everybody here at the
03:49Air Ambulance to think that there are so many similarities what they do to the teams in
03:53Formula One.
03:54We talk to each other. We share information. We go through and analyse our faults and our
03:59failures as a group because different perspectives, different people with different perspectives
04:04look at things differently.
04:05We've got a thing in our team and it's all it takes to win is all of us. And whether
04:10you're
04:10at the track building the car or whether you're in the IT department in the factory trying
04:14to get a link from Brackley to Bricksworth to the circuit, they're always important to
04:21each other.
04:22One of the big benefits of the day was not just what we did here and the improvements
04:27we made on our takeoff times. It was actually the promotion of the whole day via Sky Sports
04:33and the Formula One coverage. It's the biggest coverage of any Formula One race in the season,
04:38the British Grand Prix. So there'll be six million people learning just a little bit more
04:42about what we do here, saving people's lives every day of the week.
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