Ambulance technology improves patient care

St John Media Statement

11 June 2007

Sophisticated ambulance technology improves patient care

The upgrade of St John's Emergency Ambulance Communications Centres has brought with it substantial benefits for patients through the use of sophisticated new technology, St John Chief Executive Jaimes Wood said today.

"We are pleased with how the technology is improving ambulance responses and patient outcomes, and look forward to the completion of the final phase of the project," Mr Wood said.

The technology already in operation in the three upgraded Emergency Ambulance Communications Centres, in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, includes:

* An Automatic Vehicle Location System: enabling our Communications Centre staff to identify the location of the nearest ambulances and other resources on an electronic mapping system. This enables our staff to identify the most appropriate resources to dispatch to a scene, and to assist in guiding ambulance crews to complex locations.

* Caller Line ID: this technology electronically confirms the location of 111 calls made from a land-line. Caller Line ID provides our Communications Centre staff with additional assurances that ambulances are being dispatched to the correct location.

* Advanced Medical Priority Dispatching System: this international best practice technology assists our Communications Centre staff in determining the seriousness of emergencies, and ensures that the appropriate clinical response and speed of response is provided.

* Communications Centres linkages: new technology provides full back-up arrangements to ensure that all emergency calls are effectively managed, meaning the three Communications Centres now operate as one virtual Communications Centre. We also now have inter-connected paging, radio and dispatching systems operating country-wide.

Mobile Data Terminals:
The installation of Mobile Data Terminals is the final step in the upgrade of our Emergency Ambulance Communications Centres, Mr Wood said.

Mobile Data Terminals will enable the electronic transfer of information to and from our Communications Centres and ambulance crews. This communication will replace some of the information currently conveyed by pager or radio communication.

The benefit of Mobile Data Terminals include:
* Two-way communication between ambulances and the Communications Centres, whereas pagers are only one-way.
* More patient and scene information will be available to ambulance crews prior to arrival, with continuous updates as more information comes to hand.
* Size of messages will not be limited by the present capacity of crew pagers.

Early testing of the Mobile Data Terminal screens identified that they did not perform as required in areas where ambulance radio transmission is not strong. Our suppliers, Gen-i, are contracted to determine a solution and have offered a Terminal screen that they advise will address the issue. New Zealand has some unique geography and conditions, so it is important to test for our specific conditions, Mr Wood said.

These modified screens will be subjected to rigorous testing. If they meet all requirements, the modified terminals will be installed in all our ambulances and our staff will be trained in their use.

This will signal the completion of the upgrade of our Emergency Ambulance Communications Centres, a significant project for New Zealand, undertaken by St John with support and funding from the Ministry of Health and ACC.

ENDS

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