Saving time helps Netcare 911 save lives

Technology reduces response time by up to 60 percent

App guides emergency vehicles to scene

EMERGENCY services provider Netcare 911 has dramatically reduced their response time by using technology to their advantage.

General manager Shalen Ramduth told delegates at the Healthcare Innovation Summit in Sandton yesterday that in the past three years, they had implemented processes which saw their response time drop by 50 to 60 percent.

The average national response time, which included rural and urban statistics, was now 22 minutes. “To save lives we must save time,” he said.

Ramduth said on-road response time was at its optimum and, therefore, the only place where time could be saved was with inbound calls. The service provider has implemented a short automated answering system, which asked callers to indicate whether they had a medical emergency.

“What we’ve found over the years is that any query comes to these numbers, including hoax calls and (questions like) where’s the closest vet and what’s my medical aid benefit.

“Now, if you do have a medical emergency, you press this number and everything else is diverted, keeping the inbound emergency line freed up.”

Netcare 911 used an integrated dispatch system, where the call operator followed a systemised rubric.

As information from the caller was entered into the system, it automatically worked out the seriousness of the injury, what type of care was needed and what services needed to be dispatched.

The service provider had partnered the MySOS app.

Ramduth explained that a person could load their per- sonal details, medical history and next of kin. When the app was activated by a user, they were automatically connected to Netcare 911’s call centre.

“They will try to assess what your medical emergency is. If you cannot speak, we will automatically send help to the location provided (by the app).”

In this way, the time spent on the inbound call was minimised, because the operator did not need to ask where you were or who you were.

“All the call taker will need to do is establish what your emergency is and the severity thereof. Closing down the minutes of call handling (means) a shorter response time by the paramedics.”

Mapping software called Empower showed the call operator where the closest 15 emergency vehicles were to the emergency, and after selecting one digitally, details of co-ordinates, severity of the illness or injury and resource requirements were sent to the paramedics in the vehicle.

“The vehicle is automatically routed to the scene. The operator is not given the option to take his own route. They follow the application, which calculates the shortest route.”

The organisation also used the GeoPal system, which collated historical data, including the days and times that paramedics were dispatched in the past three years, which meant that the service provider could use the data to position their vehicles accordingly and manage their staff complement.

Netcare 911 was currently testing fingerprint technology which could also eventually be used to identify patients who were too badly injured to provide paramedics with their personal and medical details.