Gareth Davies (doctor)

Gareth Davies (born 10th March 1965) is an Accident & Emergency and Pre-hospital care consultant working from the Royal London Hospital, Whitechapel. He is best known for his role as lead doctor of the flight crew for London's Air Ambulance (HEMS) and, has been seen many times on the popular BBC documentary television series Trauma and Trauma Uncut.



Early life
Davies was born and grew up in Douglas on the Isle of Man off the north-west coast of England, famous for its Isle of Man TT motorcycle racing event. From a very early age Gareth had been interested in motor sport and saw the consequences when people fell off their bikes. He would often follow ambulances to the scenes of these accidents to see what care was provided for those who were hurt. He could see that these victims needed advanced medical help from the moment they fell off their bikes.

On From the Top: Gareth Davies, an educational program broadcast on Channel 4, Gareth recalled watching a television program from the U.S. at the age of 16: "It was about these firemen who delivered medical care as firemen and they called themselves paramedics and that I thought was absolutely fantastic!" A life long passion to help those who had been hurt by the roadside had been formed; his goal was to become a paramedic. At that time paramedicine was in its infancy, and so would not have been achievable when Gareth wanted to enter the profession. He was now faced with two choices: either go into the fire service and try and do medicine or go straight down the medical route. He chose the latter, hoping that one day he would be able to treat people at the roadside in a paramedic capacity.



Through medical school
His career choice decided, Gareth, now 18, finished his A-levels and applied to Sheffield Medical School and was accepted. During the first few years the very sight of blood made him squeamish and his insecurities led him to doubt he could become a doctor.

After his final exams in year five of medical school, Gareth thought he had failed and was in despair; however, he passed. On the program From the Top: Gareth Davies he says, after thinking he failed but then subsequently passing, "Miracle of Miracles I got though it. I try to reflect back on it and I think sometimes people see things in you that you don’t even know they’re looking for". The title of "doctor" means a lot to Gareth, and the fact that he had now followed his dream, fills him with a huge sense of accomplishment.

London's Air Ambulance
The Conflicts

Gareth had heard about HEMS from a leaflet he saw in his local hospital library back in the Isle of Man. This was his chance to achieve his dream and use the skills he had learnt in a paramedic capacity. At the moment he wanted to join HEMS, the service was still very new and, the job, considered a very risky post to take on. There was a chance it would end his career and prevent him from becoming an Accident & Emergency Consultant - many people decided to err on the side of caution. However, Gareth didn't, he decided to go for the post of lead doctor.

The job interview

At first, nerves got the better of Gareth on the interview day and it took him three attempts to find the right Tube station. The thought crossed his mind that he wasn't meant to go to the interview. He recalls on From the Top: Gareth Davies how "it was something like the Twilight Zone". He then, after three attempts on trying to find the right station, got in a taxi which took him to the interview. He got the first offer for lead doctor of the flight crew out of the twelve candidates who were interviewed that day. He recalls how he was amazed and how it "seemed quite surreal" when he received the post.

His work on 7th July 2005
Gareth Davies was in charge of Silver Command at the time of the 7 July 2005 London bombings and Medical Incident Officer (MIO) for the Aldgate and Kingscross bombs.

His work on that day led to him being shortlisted for the Great Briton Award in 2005 under the category of Public Life. Other contenders were Abigail Witchalls for her courage after being left paralysed after a knife attack, and Lord Coe for his efforts in bringing the Olympics to London in 2012. Lord Coe received the title.