PARAMEDICS will be spending Friday night shifts with their police colleagues in a bid to provide immediate care to victims of assaults or road accidents.

The pilot scheme in the Cleveland force area will see a paramedic working alongside two special constables in a dedicated response car, operating across Cleveland from 7pm to 3am every Friday evening for the next 12 months.

The Medicar team will respond to incidents which would normally be attended by both services separately, such as accidents and assaults.

Traditionally police attending an incident would radio the North East Ambulance Service if dealing with injured people, while paramedics would have to request police back up if they felt unsafe on scene.

Now, with access to live incidents via the police radio, the Medicar team will contact any officer requesting ambulance back-up, travelling straight to the scene to begin any necessary treatment immediately.

The two services hope that by working closer together in this way, they can provide a faster and more efficient response.

During an initial pilot, which operated with volunteers over three shifts in October, the car attended several road traffic collisions and assaults.

At many of the incidents the team attended, the paramedic was able to quickly assess and treat the injured patients without the need for ambulance, not only freeing up an ambulance for someone else in need but also freeing up the police officers quickly to enable them to investigate the crimes and arrest the suspects. At other incidents, the paramedic was able to provide initial life-saving treatment to patients whilst an ambulance crew were travelling.

Paul Liversidge, chief operating officer at NEAS, said: “Rather than attending incidents separately, potentially waiting for each other to arrive, we are able to provide a joint response immediately." The results of the trial will be seen next year.

The idea is to free up ambulances where appropriate.