I make clinical decisions at emergency incidents – and as a nurse I bring so much more

Pre-hospital emergency medicine consultant nurse Andy Thurgood on his challenging role

For many, the unspecified can be unnerving, but not for pre-hospital emergency medicine consultant nurse Andy Thurgood. ‘The unpredictability of emergency care sits within my comfort zone,’ he says. ‘Going into the unknown isn’t something that scares me, I actually like it – and emergencies are its definition.’

Having spent more than three decades nursing in his chosen specialty, Mr Thurgood’s achievements were professionally recognised last year when he became the first non-doctor in the UK to be accredited as a level 8 consultant in pre-hospital emergency medicine by the Faculty of Pre-Hospital Care, part of the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh.

‘Only 33 people are recognised at this level and I’m the only one who isn’t a doctor,’ he