NI ambulance

Instant alert for life-saving volunteers

PageOne messaging helps first-aiders complement the work of paramedics in Northern Ireland

Life-threatening conditions such as heart attacks and electrocutions among those living in remote, rural parts of Northern Ireland demand a timely response from the emergency services. The Northern Ireland Ambulance Service was formed in 1995 from the amalgamation of four ambulance services in the Northern Ireland region. The service employs over 850 staff across 32 stations and substations, four control centres and a regional training centre. In 2003 the Service responded to over 72,000 emergency and 32,000 urgent calls and in addition provided 230,000 patient care journeys. In common with other UK ambulance services Northern Ireland has seen a significant rise in accident and emergency demand in recent years.

Changing patterns of activity

In parallel the pattern of activity of acute services is changing, bringing with it additional demands for ambulance services, particularly emergency services. The Northern Ireland Ambulance Service opted for PageOne Messaging not only to improve paramedic response times, but also to alert its network of lifesaving volunteers. The Community First Responder (CFR) scheme relies on local volunteers trained in skills such as resuscitation and the use of defibrillators to stabilise ill or injured people until the ambulance crew arrives. “Whenever a call is received, the system automatically pages all CFRs within a locally defined radius of the address,” explained Control Manager Kieran Devine. “The first CFR will take the equipment to the incident, the second will assist and the third will remain in the area near the main road to direct the ambulance crew if required.”

Growing demand from users

There are presently around 100 CFRs available on the ambulance paging system, with several CFR groups keen to join in the near future. There is also a wider group of pager users including rapid response paramedics and local volunteer organisations such as the British Red Cross, St John Ambulance and rescue doctors. Each group can be segmented to receive its own messages or be part of widely broadcast messages in the case of large-scale disasters or potential disasters such as crippled aircraft attempting to land. “The system works really well,” said Kieran. “Response times can be reduced giving the increased potential to save more lives. PageOne is at the heart of the control room and everything we do goes through it. It is easily integrated into the wider command and control systems, something our previous system couldn’t do.”

Tackling mountainous terrain

The previous system’s mobile technology also caused problems. The mountainous terrain in many areas often blocked mobile signals, and if a crew needed precise information about a location this could jeopardise the patient’s life. Pagers have proved far more reliable. The decision to adopt PageOne messaging followed an extensive review of paging systems over a period of three years. The initial requirement was to update the existing, slow, PC-based, dialup TAP connection used to communicate with 76 officers and staff, some of whom are based in fast response vehicles throughout the province. The TAP connection system was sometimes slow and prone to error, requiring weekly testing to ensure adequate levels of communication between the officers and control room.

Faster connections

PageOne messaging allowed the Service to reduce the time taken to contact all 76 officers from minutes to seconds. Through a dedicated DDI number, handled by the PageOne call centre, all officers responding to an incident call with their identification and estimated time of arrival. The originating control room then receives a complete trail of calls, responses and arrival times that can be displayed on the control room monitor or automatically forwarded to a pager, mobile phone or email address. This allows senior officers greater flexibility and control through allowing them to manage operations whilst being mobile.

Scenario

• Slow and prone to error, the previous system required weekly testing.
• PageOne messaging has reduced response times for paramedics and volunteers.
• Messages can be directed to particular groups, depending on service requirements.