Emergency ambulance responses

WQ.277/2021

WRITTEN QUESTION TO THE MINISTER FOR HOME AFFAIRS

BY DEPUTY R.J. WARD OF ST. HELIER

QUESTION SUBMITTED ON TUESDAY 1st JUNE 2021 ANSWER TO BE TABLED ON TUESDAY 8th JUNE 2021

Question

Will the Minister advise how many emergency ambulance call-outs have been staffed or driven by fire officers (including due to staff shortages) in the last 2 years; and how many times the ambulance service has operated at capacity so far this year in terms of its ability to respond to call-outs?

Answer

There have been no occasions, between 1st July 2019 and 3rd June 2021, where firefighters have staffed an ambulance to a medical or trauma emergency due to a shortage of staff.

There has been a handful of times each year when firefighters have been requested to bring an ambulance to scene or to help transport the patient. This is because there is either a solo responder on scene in a Rapid Response Vehicle (RRV) and the patient needs to be conveyed in an ambulance stretcher, or due to the severity of the patient's condition, it requires two clinicians to manage the patient. The firefighter will then drive the ambulance into hospital with the Paramedic/s treating in the back of the vehicle.

Currently the systems are not set up to record these incidents when firefighters have driven ambulances into hospital. A dynamic decision is made at the time between both services based on availability of resources and patients' medical needs to ensure that the patient is conveyed to definitive care without delay.

In the same period, firefighters have responded, in Fire and Rescue Service fleet, to medical or trauma emergencies on 138 occasions. The States of Jersey Fire and Rescue Service, as well as having a statutory duty to provide immediate emergency care, has worked in partnership with the States of Jersey Ambulance Service as part of a co-responding' scheme for over a decade. Co-responding schemes are commonplace across the British Isles and are designed to provide rapid medical or trauma interventions until an ambulance arrives, in situations where a fire crew is in close proximity to the emergency or in short periods where all ambulance assets are engaged.

There were a further 49 occasions where firefighters were mobilised to support Ambulance Service colleagues in providing medical or trauma care, for example, where a single crew paramedic is dealing with the situation but requires support.

On a further 212 occasions, firefighters assisted ambulance colleagues, not through the provision of medical or trauma care, but in other support such as gaining access, assisting in the movement of larger patients or otherwise creating a safe space in which ambulance crews can work.

Ambulance Capacity

A capacity breach has been defined as having more resources in use (mobile) than in the following table at any minute during a shift.

When demand exceeds the available resources rostered on a given shift, extra assets are utilised to ensure an appropriate response is met. i.e. 5 medical calls concurrent on a day shift with only 4 resources available at the time.

Defibrillators have been excluded; however all other resources have been included – e.g. ambulances, paramedic cars, fire vehicles, community responders

All calls are triaged to ensure high acuity calls are prioritised and vehicles already dispatched to an incident are routinely redirected to higher priority calls if needed.

It is commonplace amongst all ambulance services to reach a position where demand for the service exceeds the available resources at a given time. Medical Triaging allows for the categorisation of patients based on medical needs and provides structure and flexibility, to ensure that patients with more urgent medical needs are prioritised and resources allocated accordingly.

It may be that capacity is breached on more than one occasion in a shift – however we are counting each shift only once.

*Note that data for the night shift on 31st May ends at midnight so excludes the time between 00:00 – 07:00 on 1st June.