Keeping a clear head Doctors staying sober in case of crisis

Off-duty doctors are staying sober in case they are needed to respond to a terror attack.

Malik Ramadan, the consultant in charge of A&E at the Royal London Hospital on Saturday night, said that medics are now primed to act in case of a major incident.

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today: “People at the moment are ready, the major trauma system in London has been preparing itself for some time yes, so doctors like myself who might have been going to Borough after a night in work [are not].”

Dr Ramadan, who said the injuries were “shocking”, said A&E was fully staffed by 12.25am, when patients arrived, as volunteers and on-call doctors came in quickly. He said: “We had a lot of people who were completely sober and ready to help. There is a high risk and they need to keep themselves ready.”

He added that many patients were “startled to the point they couldn’t speak”. Helena Horton