A paramedic has been recognised for her courage and quick thinking after responding to a stabbing at a pub.

Emma Bareham, from Sittingbourne, was en route to a callout in March when she was flagged down by a man who was heavily bleeding.

It came as emergency teams were responding to a reports of a violent altercation outside the Queen’s Head in Boughton-under-Blean, near Faversham.

William Cosier has since been jailed for life for murdering dad-of-three Adam Pritchard.

On her way to the scene, Emma encountered a car which appeared to be following her and signalled to pull over.

It turned out to be Mr Pritchard, who was bleeding heavily and had been pulled into his Peugeot by two men and driven away from the pub.

She promptly called team leader, Neil Phillpott, who advised her to continue towards the agreed rendezvous point where police were present.

However, the next message he received was that Emma had to stop and was now dealing with a patient with a serious stab wound and in traumatic cardiac arrest.

Neil said: “Faced with this potentially dangerous situation, Emma managed to control the scene, getting others in the car to fetch kit from her vehicle and assist with what sadly proved to be an unsuccessful resuscitation.

“She did all this while providing excellent clinical care to the patient throughout and before the arrival of her colleagues.

“Everyone was amazed at how calm and collected Emma was in such adversity and that she was still capable of delivering the level of clinical care that the patient required.”

At an awards ceremony hosted by the ambulance service on November 7, Emma was presented with the Acting with Courage Chief Executive Commendation.

The award recognises both bravery and fairness in service delivery.

For nearly seven years Emma has been working as a Hazardous Area Response Team (HART) paramedic.

HART team leader, Martin Stamp, says she kept her composure and did her “utmost” to save a life.

“She was able to utilise the people that she thought were volatile,” he explained. “Giving them responsibilities took the aggression out of the scene and it was done so well and instinctively.

“She was on her own and the job was both traumatic, chaotic and had quite a large degree of personal risk.

“...I’m incredibly proud to work with a team that shows such dedication, courage and compassion every day in the care we provide to our patients.”

“Emma was able to overcome those feelings and created order out of chaos."

Speaking after the awards, she commented: “It’s a real privilege to be recognised alongside such amazing colleagues and I’m incredibly proud to work with a team that shows such dedication, courage and compassion every day in the care we provide to our patients.”

At the ceremony, in Maidstone, Trevor Minter OBE DL, Vice Lord-Lieutenant and The King’s representative for Kent, presented medals for long service and good conduct to 20 frontline ambulance service workers.

Awards for 20 and 30 years of NHS service were also handed out, while volunteers were thanked for 10 years of dedication.

South East Coast Ambulance Service chief executive Simon Weldon said: “I was thrilled to be attending my second year of award ceremonies with the trust, beginning with our colleagues in Kent.

“I was truly grateful to be able to congratulate my long-serving colleagues for their dedication and was completely in awe of what they have achieved over their many years of service.

“I was also delighted to present the chief executive’s commendations to our colleagues, volunteers and members of the public, and was absolutely in awe of the great work that takes place across our patch day in and day out - which often goes unrecognised.

“I would like to take this opportunity to thank every single member of staff and all volunteers across our patch for everything they do.”