A student has been inspired to turn his design skills to helping a bicycle paramedic after reading about his work on the internet.

Mark Tooley, of Cambridge, read about Norwich's bike paramedic Iain Colquhoun after reading about him on the East Anglian Ambulance Service website.

Mr Tooley wanted to come up with a more user friendly and effective case for Mr Colquhoun to carry equipment on the back of his bike.

"I had previously designed an asthma inhaler and got interested in medical products," said Mr Tooley.

'A little disorganised'

"I shadowed Iain for a day asking what problems he had, what equipment he needed to use quickly and most frequently.

"Everything in the bag seemed a little disorganised and it was difficult to access everything quickly."

Design student Mr Tooley returned to the University of Hertfordshire to build a prototype of the Parapak.

Design grant

Mr Colquhoun's advice on modifications was used to come up with the final design.

The unit helped earn Mr Tooley a first class honours degree in product design, and he has since won a grant of �3,500 from the Audi Design Foundation to develop the product.

Now, following a new designers exhibition in London, he is discussing with manufacturers the possibility of developing the prototype for a wide range of paramedic and first aid uses.