TWICE in three nights last week Dr Malcolm Russell was called out to major road accidents in Herefordshire.

The total casualties included one dead and several seriously injured.

By coincidence, on the day between the two crashes, Dr Russell was at Hereford Fire Station with firefighters and Ambulance paramedics demonstrating how they deal with such traumatic incidents.

He was there to help launch the Mercia Accident Rescue Service (MARS) in Herefordshire - a group of highly trained doctors who give their services on a voluntary basis.

Dr Russell, from Brinsop, is the main volunteer in Herefordshire, most of the other members living over the border in Worcestershire.

Their work roles vary. One is a surgeon, another a GP, the third a medical consultant while Dr Russell is a senior lecturer at university and at Selly Oak hospital and a clinical specialist with Helicopter Emer-gency Medical Service London.

He joined MARS to give help to people on the spot where they receive most serious injuries or where they are trapped, and to assist paramedics with difficult decision making, often while firefighters are working to free a patient.

The expertise of MARS includes advanced drug and surgical interventions such as the provision of pain relief, surgical airway and chest drain insertion, anaesthesia and sometimes amputation.

Emergency doctors are called out by Hereford and Worcester Ambulance Service, often at night, and they respond roughly within a 10-mile radius of home, although they are prepared to travel further afield to major incidents.

The volunteers are not paid and have to meet the high cost of regular training to keep up-to-date with ever advancing treatment methods and high-tech gear, buy their own expensive equipment and provide their own transport and petrol.

Dr Russell said it could cost between £10,000 and £12,000 each a year to achieve this.

MARS has now been registered as a charity so that it can work on a more organised basis and raise funds locally to help cover some of the expenses.

Russell Hamilton, chief executive of Hereford and Worcester Ambulance Service, said that the doctors were called out, on average, three times a week across the counties.

"We have been working very closely with them to ensure they are actively engaged in the clinical care of those patients who need a special level of care in often very challenging circumstances,'' he said.

He thought the service was very fortunate to have access to such a high calibre of doctors willing to give up their time free of charge in order to give the best possible care to patients.