Kathryn Simpson

Kathy has worked for the Scottish Ambulance Service for sixteen years and been a paramedic for eleven of them.  She has been a flight paramedic since 2006, currently acting as Glasgow rotary team leader.  She has worked extensively in both rural and urban environments and has experience in the different areas of the ambulance service including the Emergency Medical Dispatch Centre, Special Operations Response Team and divisional and community training among many.  Kathy is one of a small number of paramedics who have passed the Diploma in Immediate Medical Care examination of the RCS of Edinburgh.  She is also an Advanced Life Support and Basics Scotland instructor and has completed and remains current in many other courses to compliment her experience as a paramedic.  These include Paediatric Life Support, Neonatal Life Support, Advanced Trauma Life Support and Great North Air Ambulance Advanced Airway course.  Kathy was also part of a research team into the prehospital medical team provision in Scotland, the results of which will be published in the near future.  Kathy is one of four paramedics within the Scottish Ambulance Service who have been successful in being selected to be part of the first cohort for the new BSc Specialist Paramedic (Critical Care) facilitated by the Scottish Ambuance Service and Glasgow Caledonian University.

Matt Austin

Matt joined the Scottish Ambulance Service in 2005 after relocating from the London Ambulance Service.  Normally working on the Motorcycle Response Unit in Edinburgh he joined the air wing in 2009 as a paramedic on board Helimed 5.  Matt passed the Diploma in Immediate Medical Care in March 2010 and is now looking to expand his knowledge of mountain medicine. 

Matt is married with three children and enjoys being a mediocre marathon runner and would like to run further if he ever has any free time.

James Meredith

Jim qualified as a paramedic in 2003 and the Scottish Ambulance Service is the third ambulance service he has worked for since 1999.  Divisionally Jim has a wealth of experience working in the urban and rural cummunity serving in both paramedic response vehicles, as a lone responder and in standard ambulances as part of a two person crew.  Jim previously enjoyed a secondment to Helimed 5 in 2005.  He has a specific interest in cardiology and in particular the prehospital aspect of treatment of cardiac patients.

Mark Strickland

Mark has worked for the Scottish Ambulance Service for sixteen years, ten of which he has been an operational paramedic, latterly working on a paramedic response vehicle in Edinburgh.  He is responsible for the implementation of a paediatric education programme in Edinburgh in conjunction with The Royal Hospital for Sick Children.  Mark also oversaw the co ordination of monthly CPR education classes in partnership with the resuscitation training officer at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary.  These activities were directly for the benefit of operational paramedics and the uptake was excellent.  Mark is also involved in the research study Topcat2 with colleagues in Edinburgh.

Out of work Mark is a keen runner and mountain biker.

Peter Matthew Lindle

Peter joined Helimed 5 as an aircrew paramedic in 2011.  He has worked for the Scottish Ambulance Service for a total of ten years, spending the first half of his career in the EMDC as an emergency medical dispatcher/quality co ordinator and half operationally as an ambulance technician/paramedic.  He has a keen interest in aviation having briefly trained as an air traffic controller before deciding to rejoin the ambulance service.  He has a BSc in Anatomy and has been selected to be a Resus Council UK ALS instructor and has recently completed a BASICS PHEC course.

Peter is married to Tracey, has a son Henry and lives in Kilmarnock.  He likes spending time with his family, eating, drinking and walking.

David Philp

David joined the Scottish Ambulance Service twenty years ago and has worked as a paramedic in Glasgow city his whole career.  He previously worked on Helimed 5 for several years in 2005 when he returned to work in division.  David is half way through a BSc in Health Studies and is current in Advanced Life Support, Paediatric Advanced Life Support, Advanced Trauma Life Support and has undertaken many other courses to enhance his clinical capabilities and practice.

David is an ambulance service workplace mentor and gives up a lot of his own time to help both qualified and student paramedics progress and develop within the service.

Duncan MacDonald

A native highlander, Duncan joined the Scottish Ambulance Service in 2006 following seven years as a member of the Cairngorm Mountain Rescue Team where he specialised as a Wilderness EMT.  Having qualified as a paramedic in 2009, his is in the final stages of a BSc in Paramedical Science through Stirling University and is realising a career ambition of secondment to Helimed 5 since May 2012.

Having climbed extensively in Scotland and the European Alps, Duncan has also travelled as a climbing medic on expeditions internationally.  He has a particular interest in trauma and remote area prehospital care.

Duncan is married to Yvonne and hopes to bike, run, climb and ski when time and cirumstance allows.

Billy Burns

Billy has worked for the Scottish Ambulance Service since 1995 at Greenock and Paisley station as a paramedic on a rapid response vehicle, ambulance and motorcycle.  He joined Helimed 5 as an aircrew paramedic in 2011 but has been involved in Air Ambulance Division since 2000.  He has flown on the Islander fixed wing aircraft and the Beechcraft King Air operating from Glasgow airport.  Billy is current in Advanced Life Support, Neonatal Life Support and has completed the Tactical Command course and the Great North Air Ambulance Advanced Airway course.  He is an ambulance service workplace mentor for Paisley Ambulance station.

Billy is married to Liz and enjoys spending time with Kayleigh, his 9 year old granddaughter.  During his spare time he tries to keep fit by road or fell running or cycling in an occasional Sportive.