Exeter students help keep festival goers safe and well at Glastonbury

Nursing and medicine students from the University of Exeter were putting their skills into action at this year’s Glastonbury Festival while volunteering as first responders.

The students delivered medical care at Glastonbury 2023 as part of Festival Medical Services (FMS), who provided special training ahead of the event to prepare them for the variety of cases they had to respond to when 210,000 music fans visited Worthy Farm over the past week.

The group gained medical qualifications which will contribute to their degrees. Among them was third-year medicine student, Amy Sheffard, who said: “Glastonbury has been the best experience of my whole life. Not only was the festival itself a magical place, but it was a privilege to be able to start using some of my medical training. The generosity of the public was a real highlight, from words of encouragement, to help navigating crowds, to being given an ice lolly – which was certainly needed carrying heavy kit in the heat!

“I learned skills that I never get the opportunity to develop on the wards - moving crowds to get an ambulance through and reporting over a walkie-talkie were totally new experiences – and I also learned so much from the more experienced responders I was paired with for each shift. Communication was the most vital skill, whether that was reporting the most important details to those managing callouts, to keeping things as simple as possible for patients.

“It was the best feeling to make even a small difference to the safety of those attending this iconic festival. I’m exhausted, but I can’t take the smile off my face. Overall, volunteering at Glastonbury has been such an incredible introduction to pre-hospital medicine and I hope to volunteer as a first responder at other events soon.”

Professor Ian Fussell from the University of Exeter is a Team Member of FMS and helped lead the student group. He said: “Exeter’s partnership with FMS provides a fantastic opportunity for our medical students and we were delighted to have this opportunity to help keep the public safe and well at Glastonbury.

“Our students responded to a variety of incidents in a fast-paced and ever-changing festival environment. This experience should prepare them well for working on NHS frontlines in the future and I’m really pleased they showcased their talents and represented the medical school at one of the biggest music events in the world. They’re a great group and superb ambassadors for the university.”

Students are invited to apply for a place on the FMS Responder team each year and are expected to contribute to the funding of their training for this role.