THE emergency services were in full swing when Princess Anne dropped in for a flying visit last Friday.

The royal visitor had taken a few minutes out of her busy schedule to take a look around the ambulance service control room in Chippenham.

While Richard Claridge, senior sector manager for the control room, showed Princess Anne how the emergency calls were handled, control room staff Louise and Claire were dealing with a medical emergency.

The two women handled what appeared to be a routine call and alerted other emergency services to help the ambulance crew, which had already been dispatched.

Mr Claridge said he was pleased Princess Anne had taken a few minutes to stop at the control centre.

"She asked to come and have a look round while she was in Chippenham. We were delighted to oblige, and she was here when staff were having to deal with a 999 call," said Mr Claridge.

The visit also gave control staff the opportunity to show Princess Anne the plans for the new joint emergency control room. "It is not only going to benefit us, but it will also benefit the other two emergency services," said Mr Claridge.

The whistle-stop tour of the ambulance control room was part of a brief visit to the Southern Ambulance College on the site of Ambulance HQ.

Princess Anne arrived by helicopter at around 10.30am. She was greeted by the Lord Lieutenant of Wiltshire Sir Maurice Johnston and was introduced to Julian Johnson, chairman of Wiltshire County Council, Coun Brian Atfield, chairman of North Wiltshire District Council, Barbie Dawson, Mayor of Chippenham, James Gray MP, and Kevin Small, chairman of Wiltshire NHS Ambulance Trust.

Cathy Flower, administrator of the Research and Development Support Unit, presented a small bouquet of flowers to the princess.

"She picked up that my name was Flower and said it was appropriate that I was presenting her with the posy," said Mrs Flower.

The princess then met the five finalists and 14 other entrants in the National Health Service Evidence into Practice competition.

The runners-up were Carol Langley and Anna Wilson from the Wiltshire and Swindon Health Care NHS Trust, whose project was pulmonary rehabilitation.

The winner was Mark Vernon of the Chippenham-based Wiltshire Health Promotion Service for his doorstep walk project.

After the official presentation Mr Small escorted the Princess Royal to the ambulance control centre.

"We actually talked about when the control centre was built, about the staffing and training. She was very interested in our work," he said.