One of the West Cumberland Hospital's newest medics is combining his work on the ward with a pioneering 'flying doctor' role.

Dr John Ferris is an emergency medicine consultant with a specialist skill set that only a relatively small number of doctors have nationally, meaning he can now fly with the air ambulance to help patients out in the field.

He works as an emergency medicine consultant at both the West Cumberland Hospital and Cumberland Infirmary, Carlisle.

But, in addition, he also has dedicated shifts each week flying with the Great North Air Ambulance as a consultant in pre-hospital care - and leads a clinical team developing the trust’s retrieval and transfer service.

Dr Ferris said: “I have trained and worked in Scotland for nearly 20 years as part of emergency medical systems delivering healthcare to remote and rural areas and I moved to Cumbria to bring my experience to this exciting new role.

"It is quite rare to find work within Helicopter Emergency Medical Services (HEMS) built into an NHS role, but this opportunity within NHS North Cumbria is ideal for my experience and I look forward to further developing our services here for the benefit of patients across the county.”