New scanning technology is set to transform the speed of treatment of critically ill patients during air ambulance missions.

The East Anglian Air Ambulance (EAAA) has updated its ultrasound technology to the Butterfly iQ machine, which can be powered by a phone or handheld device, to scan vital organs of patients at the scene or in transit to hospital.

The point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) can be relayed to emergency teams on standby to provide treatment quickly.

Dr Jon Barratt said the machine was transformational to the care the air ambulance could provide now and its plans for the future.

He said: "It allows us to scan multiple areas of the body from one device which means we can see exactly what is going on with patients while we’re on scene, enabling us to make diagnoses and implement the right treatment much more quickly. In some cases, this can be the difference between life and death."

An example of the scanner in use would be to help the crew scan for internal bleeding and provide a frozen blood plasma treatment while en route to hospital.

Dr Barratt said: "For patients who are in cardiac arrest, we can look to see if the heart is beating, we can scan the heart quite effectively and scan the lungs for signs of collapse."

The scans are accessed by EAAA doctors in real time over a secure network to discuss treatment, helping crews provide information to hospital staff once they arrive.

The service hopes to build on the scanning system to use it to scan large blood vessels in the groin as part of enhancing its cardiac care.

Dr Barratt said: "In terms of patients in cardiac arrest we can get access to this large blood vessel we can measure second by second their condition and how much their heart has a pulse or no pulse if it is a cardiac arrest."

Andrew Downes, head of service improvement and clinical quality at EAAA, added: "For the first time, senior members of the team can see what our crews are seeing on-scene and quickly provide their analysis.

“It allows us to quickly respond to the critical care of patients and escalate our response as needed. Another game changer is the ability to provide remote training which is particularly important in the current pandemic.”