Staff Biographies
Category: Press Pack ArticleDr Cosmo Scurr is a consultant in pre-hospital emergency medicine and anaesthesia. He has experience working for air ambulances around the country. Cosmo is the doctor on scene with London’s Air Ambulance Charity when patient Paiwand is trapped underneath a 29 tonne HGV. Cosmo and his team work closely with paramedics and London Fire Brigade to get Paiwand out safely and to King’s Major Trauma Centre.
Pete Kingsley an Advanced Paramedic Practitioner at London’s Ambulance Service. There are just 4 or 5 of these specialists on duty at any one time, covering the 10 million people who live within the London area. As a critical care specialist he can get strong pain relief and advanced procedures to the most severely-injured major trauma patients. When he first joined LAS, patients were conveyed to the nearest hospital, but the APPs can bypass those hospitals to get patients to one of the four Major Trauma Centre hospitals in London. He believes he has one of the best paramedic jobs in the country. We see Pete arrive to support paramedics on scene with Alicia, who injures her leg after riding an e-scooter into a lamppost.
Dr Michael Fertleman is a Consultant Geriatrician at St Mary’s Hospital. He has an interesting role supervising the medical care of elderly trauma patients and his expertise is in assessing and reducing the risk of surgery for older people. He is also the leader of the Cutrale Perioperative & Ageing Group which focuses on using bio-engineering tools to reduce the risk of surgery and improve the lives of older people. He manages patient Ralph’s care in the lead up to and after his surgery.
Mr Ibraheim El-Daly is a Consultant Trauma & Orthopaedic Surgeon at King’s College Hospital, specialising in complex pelvic and acetabular (hip socket) trauma and lower limb trauma. Ibraheim operates on several patients: Paiwand, a pedestrian who suffered multiple fractures after being trapped underneath an HGV; Karl, a van driver in a high-speed motorway accident who has a complex femoral fracture; June, an elderly lady with a severe open ankle fracture. When caring for June, Ibraheim shares that his Mum passed away in 2009. She had been treated for cancer at King’s and the empathy shown by staff is something that has stuck with him.
Jason Morris is one of the longest-serving Flight Paramedics at London’s Air Ambulance. He has been awarded a Queen’s Ambulance Medal in recognition of his 22 years of service with the London Ambulance Service, which he joined in 1999. He trains LAA paramedics and has also spearheaded improvements in LAS’ control rooms including GoodSAM instant-on-scene. This allows clinicians to remotely access a caller’s smartphone camera to quickly understand patients injuries to better provide critical resources and advice before crews arrive on scene. Since being introduced in 2019, it has been used over 80,000 times and helped save countless lives. Jason works in the Tactical Operations Centre control room where call handlers listen in to 999 calls to provide critically ill and major trauma patients with advanced resources to save their lives.
Mr Chris Jordan is a Consultant Orthopaedic & Trauma Surgeon at St Mary’s Hospital with a special interest in pelvic reconstruction. His specialist knowledge and skillset is crucial to Zoltan’s case, whose pelvis is broken after being hit by a van. Zoltan needs a stable pelvis to stand a chance of being independently mobile and on a prosthetic leg. The Trauma System didn’t exist when Chris was a Junior Doctor, and he has witnessed the incredible improvement in patient outcomes since the network came into being.
Miss Anouska Ayub is a Paediatric Trauma and Orthopaedic Consultant working at the Royal London Hospital. She performs surgery on Alicia after she collided with a lamppost when riding an electric scooter and suffered a deep wound to her thigh. Anouska must operate to clean the wound and repair the damage to Alicia’s hamstring to give her the best chance of walking normally and returning to high-level sport.
James Rouse is an Advanced Paramedic Practitioner at London’s Ambulance Service. There are just 4 or 5 of these specialists on duty at any one time, covering the 10 million people who live within the London area. As a critical care specialist he is passionate about pre-hospital care. We see James arrive to support paramedics on scene with June, an 87 year old with an open ankle fracture. James’ expertise enables June to be sedated whilst he realigns her ankle bone before transferring her to King’s.
Mr Kshem Senarath-Yapa is a Consultant Plastic & Reconstructive Surgeon at St Mary’s Hospital. He operates on Zoltan’s leg so he can be fitted with a prosthetic limb and begin to walk again. Kshem carefully positions and shortens the nerves so they don’t lie at the end of the stump and cause pain. He performs a technique called ‘myodesis’, where muscle is secured to the bone to enhance prosthetic limb fitting and provides padding for the stump. Kshem then uses a ‘dermal matrix’, taken from a pig, to cover the skin defect, acting as a scaffold that Zoltan’s own cells will use to regrow his skin.
Mr Ed Matthews is a Consultant Trauma & Orthopaedic Surgeon at St Mary’s Hospital. He operates on Zoltan’s leg to stabilise his fracture and trims the fibula bone in order for Zoltan to walk more comfortably once fitted with a prosthetic limb.
Dr Rich Carden is a an Emergency Medicine Registrar working at St George’s Hospital. Through his clinical experience he has developed a keen interest in trauma and has a PhD in Trauma Sciences. Rich is in resus when patient Daniil arrives at St George’s Hospital after a motorbike collision.
Laura Burgess is a clinical service lead physiotherapist for vascular and amputee rehabilitation at Imperial College NHS Trust. She specialises in managing the ongoing rehabilitation of amputees. For the first time that Zoltan takes steps, after losing his leg, it’s Laura that guides him through this milestone moment. With the use of a specially-designed walking aid, consisting of an inflatable bag supported by a metal frame and rocker foot, she helps Zoltan begin to walk again.
Mr Tim Bishop is a Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon and Clinical Director for the surgical directorate at St George’s Hospital. He is a former rugby player and President of the St George’s Hospital Medical School Rugby Football Club. Tim is the on-call Orthopaedic Consultant when Jacob is brought in after being tackled in a rugby match.
Mr Brett Rocos is a Consultant Orthopaedic and Spinal Surgeon at the Royal London Hospital, managing patients with a range of complex spinal problems, including those caused by major trauma. He treats patient Jorge (pron. Hor-hay) who was found on the floor at home, unconscious with bleeding from his head. When scans show a broken bone in his neck, Jorge is transferred from North Middlesex Hospital to the Royal London Major Trauma Centre for the advanced specialist spinal care that Brett and his team can provide.