THE North West Ambulance service is now equipped with two-way pagers which will help them respond to ‘life-threatening’ calls more efficiently.
Volunteers will now be able to respond instantly to text messages and alert notifications, check in with the control room when arriving at the scene and check out once the ambulance has arrived.
So far, 450 first responders have been supplied with the new TETRA pager.
Mark Evans, NWAS community engagement and resuscitation manager, said: “We use the TETRA pager and the Airwave network to allocate our community first responders (CFRs) to life-threatening incidents close to where they are located.
“We are set to update our system to Airwave’s new TETRA pager which can still be used where there is no mobile phone signal.”
If there are any issues or if an incident cannot be found, first responders can alert the control room immediately via status messaging or the configured emergency button.
The control room can track the device and send assistance to the volunteer, either in terms of information or by sending the police or other support.
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