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New technology at heart of ambulance service operations
New technology is being harnessed by the East of England Ambulance Service to boost the way emergency and urgent calls are dealt with at the heart of its operations.
A contract, initially for three years but extendable for up to seven years, has been awarded to Intergraph (UK) Ltd for the supply and support of a map-based computer-aided Command and Dispatch system (CAD), which is at the centre of aiding call-taking and dispatching at the region's three control rooms.
The new regional system, I/CAD, will replace the three different CAD set-ups that the Trust inherited after last July's merger.
Using Intergraph’s spatial technology to support the deployment of emergency resources to patients within the region will position the East of England Ambulance Service in the forefront of Trusts in the UK. The increased capacity, resilience and flexibility of the combined system gives particular benefit in major incident situations where the service’s front line staff can be coordinated more effectively and emergency calls can be handled in any of the Trusts three despatching facilities.
Additionally the new system will allow users to instantly identify the resources at geographical borders, a feature which is not currently possible. This would be particularly beneficial, for example, in the case of an incident close to the border of a county when the nearest ambulance resource is beyond that border. The service will also benefit from using one single system for reporting and for decision support.
The contract was awarded following a full European procurement process, which is a legal requirement for substantial public sector contracts. Intergraph currently supplies police and fire services as well as the RAC with CAD systems and holds various other international contracts.
Neil Storey, Associate Director of Distribution at the East of England Ambulance Service, said: "Intergraph was able to demonstrate a professional understanding of and commitment to providing what we required, at a price we could afford.”
"I anticipate a learning curve for both parties, but we look forward to a long and fruitful relationship with Intergraph."
Howard Papworth, Intergraph’s Director Western Europe, added: "We are delighted to have won this contract and look forward to working with the service. We know from experience that whenever users have to migrate from a familiar system there will be resistance to change, but we have undertaken within our contract to provide the necessary levels of training and support in order to minimise any problems that might arise."
