Prehospital Immediate Care and Trauma (PICT)

About the PICT team

The PICT team is operational between 11am and 11pm every day of the year. They operate as a joint NHS Highland and Scottish Ambulance Service resource, utilizing an ambulance service rapid response car to respond on blue lights. They respond to injured and unwell patients in and around Inverness and across the Highlands.

The team carries a range of medications and surgical capabilities which are beyond the scope of practice of most paramedics. They can be deployed to 999 calls which sound especially serious, or at the request of members of the other emergency services.

In 2022 the PICT Team won the emergency services category of the Highland Heroes awards for their lifesaving work in Inverness and across the Highlands.

In 2021 the Team’s clinical lead Dr Luke Regan won the international Medic of the Year award from the College of Remote and Offshore Medicine, an independent degree awarding institution which specializes in prehospital, austere and remote medicine.

Find out more about the PICT team at their website.

Courses and qualifications

Here are some of the examples of courses and qualifications that our doctors have completed:

• European Trauma Course (ETC) - Multiprofessional major trauma course.
• BASICS Pre-hospital Emergency Care Course (PhEC) - Prehospital emergency care course.
• Diploma in Transfer and Retrieval Medicine (DipRTM) - Diploma from the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh.
• Fellowship in Wilderness Medicine (FAWM) - 3-5 year programme from the Wilderness Medical Society, USA.
• Anaesthesia Trauma and Critical Care Course (ATACC) - Advanced trauma course covering pre-hospital and in-hospital care.
• Advanced Life Support (ALS) - Course teaching the fundamentals of resuscitation practices.
• Austere Emergency care (AEC) - Prolonged casualty care course based on the US special forces guidelines.
• Medicine in Remote Areas (MIRA) - 5 day course covering the management of traumatic and medical issues.