If you’d told me when I started at Hymers in 1995 that I’d one day appear on prime-time television while acting as an expert witness for one of the country's most senior Coroners, I’d have found it a bit hard to believe! My time at Hymers prepared me well for the trials and tribulations of my subsequent 5 years at medical school but I don’t remember media training, the very special world of festival medicine or navigating the complexities of the medicolegal system being all that high on the agenda.

In spite of this, my journey to appearing on Channel Five’s “Cause of Death” certainly began during my time at Hymers since that’s when I was first exposed to the world of pre-hospital and event medicine as a St John Ambulance cadet. Having enjoyed the experience of delivering first aid at major events immensely, I continued my association with the organisation throughout university and then on into my postgraduate medical career. With each step up the ladder of seniority within medicine, I took on more responsibility and gained more and more experience of delivering medical care in the out of hospital environment. As an anaesthetics and intensivist with dreams of being an air ambulance doctor, I sought out more opportunities to train in and practice high level pre-hospital critical care, culminating in my completion of the Diploma in Immediate Medical Care at the Royal College of Surgeons in Edinburgh.

Work at one music festival led to another and then another and, before long, I became a regular on the summer festival circuit. Leaving the camping, day-drinking and Portaloos to the paying attendees, instead I focussed on delivering good quality medical care while minimising the impact of these events on the local health system. I rapidly learned that a large festival site is akin to a small city with all the attendant acute and chronic health problems that could be expected in somewhere like inner city Hull – alcohol and drugs were a huge issue with over half of all of the patients that I saw being under the influence of one, other or both. Recognising that drugs were a very common reason for seeking healthcare at these events, I undertook additional training and became comfortable with the recognition and management of those suffering the ill effects of their use. I also became aware of The Loop, a charity that aims to work with those that use recreational drugs to reduce their risk of harm through both front and back of house drug testing as well as by providing harm reduction advice. Having worked with them at a number of festival events, I accept their view that criminalisation of recreational users and attempts at prohibition are less likely to be effective than a policy of harm reduction.

As you might expect, over my time covering festivals I’ve come across patients who’ve become critically unwell as a result of their use of illicit substances. Despite the best efforts of the teams involved in their care, a number of those young people have died. As the senior doctor involved in the care of David Celino, I found myself in the witness box at Wakefield Coroner’s Court in the summer of 2023. David had died following his use of Ecstasy at Leeds Festival the previous year and there was significant public interest in the outcome of his inquest. As the sole medical professional present in court, I was asked some challenging questions by David’s family, friends and representatives of the festival organiser but had prepared well and was able to give a full account of the events that led to his untimely death. My clear statement and open answers to questions, as well as my other role as one of the Medical Examiners for North Lincolnshire, led to the Coroner for Wakefield asking if I would consider acting as an independent expert for such cases in future.

I thought no more of the request until early this year when I was asked by Dr James Adeley, Senior Coroner for the Northwest, if I would be willing to review a complex case involving the death of a young woman at a festival the previous summer. Having accepted the case, I spent several weeks reviewing the evidence before producing a detailed report that covered not only the timeline of events but answered some specific questions involving the organisation, medical provision and the care given to the deceased. Having presented my opinion in court, I was given the opportunity to take part in filming for the documentary following the work of Dr Adeley and the Blackburn Coroner’s office with the hope that publicising this particular case might go some way to reducing the risk of a similar event happening to another young person. The filming and production process was an interesting undertaking with far more footage being shot than made it onto the show – a two-hour interview with lots of establishing shots and a very detailed discussion of my report and its production was edited down to just two minutes of air time!

The summer festival season is now over for another year but my experience as a festival doctor continues to grow – the world of event and festival medicine is constantly changing with new treatments and more advanced care delivery evolving in parallel with the increasing number and complexity of patients that we see. My encounter with the world of the televised legal process was interesting enough but it’s not something that I hope to make a habit of!

Mark Clayton, OH 1995-2002

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