At 1010 today, South Western Ambulance Service received dozens of phone-calls regarding a road traffic collision involving two cars and a bus in the Studland area close to the Sandbanks ferry. A total of 11 front line ambulance resources and the Dorset a

At 1010 today, South Western Ambulance Service received dozens of phone-calls regarding a road traffic collision involving two cars and a bus in the Studland area close to the Sandbanks ferry. A total of 11 front line ambulance resources and the Dorset and Somerset Air Ambulance, were quickly dispatched to the scene and initial estimates suggested that there were in excess of 30 casualties. The coastguard helicopter was also in attendance.This figure has now been confirmed as 30 casualties - none of whom have serious injuries. Their injuries are described as minor - with most people either walking wounded or suffering from shock. A total of four casualties were flown to Dorset County Hospital in the coastguard helicopter, a further five casualties were taken to Poole General Hospital by land ambulance. One of the car drivers was treated for minor injuries and the remaining 20 were taken to a local hotel and continue to be treated and assessed by two of the Trust's skilled clinicians; Paramedic and Clinical Development Manager Adrian South, along with Emergency Care Practitioner Mandy Hawkins are single handedly treating all 20 patients. The Trust's Chief Executive Ken Wenman congratulated the staff for their response to this incident and says, "Firstly, I am extremely pleased to report that the only injuries resulting from this incident are minor and on behalf of the Trust, I wish those involved a swift recovery. Each of the Trust's clinicians sent to this incident, along with our control room staff responded quickly and calmly and I would like to thank them for this excellent, coordinated response. Since the national reconfiguration of ambulance trusts in 2006, we are fortunate to have a larger Trust with greater resilience to respond to events like this one. South Western Ambulance service also has a flag-ship call centre based in St Leonards combining both emergency and urgent care services across the county of Dorset, which has been able to deal with the multitude of calls resulting from this collision efficiently and effectively whilst communicating frequently with the attending crews.