At a glance
- Dr John Ferris delivers hospital-level care in extreme environments, from mountainsides to remote valleys.
- His Porsche Macan GTS is adapted for rapid response, combining performance, practicality and all-weather capability.
- At the same time, the Macan serves as the family’s everyday car.
In the vast, rugged landscape of England’s Lake District, where narrow winding roads cut through mountains and remote valleys, there are occasions when time can mean the difference between life and death. One man who knows this only too well is Dr John Ferris, a consultant in emergency medicine and pre-hospital care, who volunteers for three charities that provide emergency medical assistance in the hardest-to-reach places. For Ferris, reaching patients quickly is critical – which is partly why the car on his driveway is not an ambulance, but a Porsche Macan GTS.
Operating across an area spanning nearly 7,800 square kilometres, Ferris’s patch covers everything from coastal towns to dramatic valleys and imposing fells. “People think of the Lake District as a quiet rural area and the resident population isn’t big,” Ferris explains, “but at peak times we have enormous numbers of people visiting – nearly 10 million people annually – and lots come here for high-risk activities.”
The geography means that when an emergency occurs, Ferris and his rapid-response Macan are often the first on the scene. His role is unique: bringing life-saving care directly to patients, wherever they may be. “My niche is taking the sort of intensive-care treatment normally provided in a hospital into very remote settings,” he says.
Why this emergency doctor chose a Macan GTS
To do that effectively, Ferris needed a vehicle capable of covering long distances quickly, safely and reliably, often on tight, twisting roads with unpredictable traffic. His Macan GTS, adapted for emergency response, meets those demands – all while doubling up as a family car.
“It’s a vehicle that combines enough space to put everything you need in the boot with the speed, overtaking ability and power you need to do emergency-response driving safely,” Ferris says. “There aren’t many vehicles that tick all those boxes.”
Ferris is also “a bit of a petrolhead”, so the Macan’s performance matters to him beyond its purely practical capabilities. A 911 remains the Porsche he would love to own, although the realities of family life and carrying a mobile intensive-care unit currently rule the sports car out.
Instead, having been discreetly modified with blue and green emergency lights and a siren – and equipped with winter tyres and snow chains during winter – the Macan allows Ferris to navigate traffic quickly when responding to urgent calls. At the same time it remains understated enough to blend into everyday life. “That’s the other side of the Macan: it also has to work as a practical family car that we can take on holiday to France with the kids. It’s very versatile.”
Life-saving interventions on the mountainside
Ferris balances his voluntary work for BEEP Doctors with NHS hospital shifts, as well as flying with the Great North Air Ambulance Service and supporting the local mountain rescue team. The roles often overlap, with multiple organisations working together during major incidents. One such emergency involved a climber who fell in the Langdale Valley, sustaining severe injuries that included a traumatic brain injury and collapsed lungs. Ferris had to navigate 45 minutes of rural roads to reach the patient, where he was able to stabilise him on the mountainside.
“The sorts of things we do include providing anaesthetic at the scene, operating on a patient’s chest to reinflate the lungs, and giving medical transfusions to keep them alive,” he explains. In this instance, after life-saving treatment on the fell, the patient was airlifted to hospital and ultimately made a good recovery.
In another case, a fell runner suffered cardiac arrest after becoming severely hypothermic during a winter training run. The rescue took place at night, requiring Ferris and his mountain-rescue colleagues to hike to the casualty carrying all the necessary equipment. “He was in cardiac arrest for around five hours,” Ferris recalls. “We went up, resuscitated him and took him to a specialist hospital, where he was warmed up. He’s since done really well and returned to fitness.”
Outcomes like these highlight the importance of a fast response, especially in a location where ambulance delays can be significant. “There isn’t a major hospital 10 minutes down the road,” says Ferris. “For someone seriously injured in the Lakes, the relevant major hospital may be two and a half hours away.”
A calling from an early age
The realities of his work may be extreme, but Ferris’s career path began simply enough. Inspired by TV programmes about the emergency services, he knew from an early age what he wanted to do. “I must have been about five or six, and I was sold,” he smiles.
Today, that calling takes him to some of the most inaccessible places in England – and he’s often there just in time.
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Photos: Kieran Fallows for Porsche South Lakes
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