Cycling paramedics are often only seen in flat urban areas, but Sheffield's finest have managed to master the city's terrain

Cycling paramedics are an increasingly common sight on urban streets around the UK. But if the city happens to be hilly Sheffield, how do you get to the emergency as quickly as possible on your 40kg white, green and yellow bike?

The answer, according to Jonathan Alexander from the Yorkshire ambulance service's cycle response unit (CRU), is for units to start their day uphill from the city centre, letting them travel to the majority of calls with gravity on their side.

Jonathan was inspired to lobby for a Sheffield cycling paramedic service by the example of Tom Lynch, who launched the first such unit in London nine years ago. Sceptics told him that ambulance bikes were for flat towns like London and York, not the contours of Sheffield.

"But we've shown that it can work here," he says. "We've shown that hills are no disadvantage, as long as you think about what you're doing."

The specially equipped mountain bikes handle well on city streets, says Jonathan, and the cycling paramedics can travel down flights of steps, up and down kerbs and make regular visits to check on the city centre's most vulnerable, who may sleep and live on backstreets away from the public eye.

Engaging with the public is a big part of the idea of the unit, he adds: "We're visible and approachable. People are happy to flag us down and ask for help."

With an average response time at just over four minutes for life-threatening incidents, the scepticism is fading and the initial CRU trial is now effectively permanent, with new staff to be trained soon.

Cycling ambulances, as the CRU staff are popularly known, are trained paramedics who can arrive at call-outs quickly to make an immediate assessment, carry out the initial treatment and radio for other services as required. Often, the paramedics find an ambulance is not needed, which saves the NHS time and money.

Jonathan and his colleague Tim Atkin have made it to cardiac arrest patients in under a minute, and bystanders have been know to remark that the cycling paramedics have arrived, Batman-like, the instant a casualty has fainted or collapsed.

On one occasion a combined operation involving the cycling paramedics and a motorised ambulance located a convulsing child in a warren of flats, reassured his parents and got him to hospital in under eight minutes, the target time usually allowed for just arriving on the scene.

The CRU work closely with cycling police and city centre security staff, and the public appreciate being able to talk to public servants on bicycles. The law abiding public, at least:

"I once came upon the police looking for a burglar, and found him on a different street with police officers giving chase. So I pulled up alongside him, and explained I wasn't going to get out of breath like he was, and that he may as well give himself up. So he stopped and the police arrested him."

The success of the scheme in a city centre with the topography of Sheffield shows that cycling paramedics would work anywhere, says Jonathan.

"I'd say every town should have a cycle response unit," he says. "Not just every city." Public events and festivals too, he suggests.

And there are personal benefits: "I've now gone back to my racing weight of an 18-year-old. And I really notice it now when I'm not riding an 88lb bike. I went for a circuit on my 19lb racing bike last weekend. That was bliss."

• David Bocking is the development coordinator for Pedal Ready, which is based in Sheffield. It runs courses in partnership with the local council and NHS and social care trusts.