By Anne Sheehan, Enterprise Director, Vodafone UK
Volunteers trained to attend medical emergencies before an ambulance arrives play a vital role in patient care. Community First Responders (CFRs) and Co Responders from the Police, Fire and Military are equipped to start lifesaving interventions that can have a significant positive impact on patient outcomes. Today I am delighted to announce that Vodafone UK will be working with the South Central Ambulance Service (SCAS) in Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Berkshire and Hampshire to help improve response times for this critical service.
Vodafone will be providing SCAS in these counties with 4G mobile devices and a bespoke app to improve efficiency and response times for its 1,200 CFRs and Co Responders. The bespoke app, developed in partnership with CommonTime, enables CFRs to communicate easily and reliably with their office-based control centre, the Clinical Coordination Centre.
This is how the Vodafone solution works. When an incident occurs, the closest available responder will be alerted and provided with the exact location, fastest route and incident details. CFRs can log in and report that they are available to respond. On arrival, they can share critical information about the incident and request additional support from the emergency services. For their safety, CFRs are tracked at all times through GPS.
To protect patient information, the Vodafone solution ensures that the app and the mobile devices can be securely managed. More than 350 mobile devices are in operation across Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Hampshire and Oxfordshire, with a further 150 to be issued over the coming weeks.
Going forward, SCAS and Vodafone will work together to identify areas where we can use the power of technology to benefit both CFRs and patients.
