999 volunteers asking to stick with trackers

EMERGENCY volunteers in Fife’s East Neuk fear lives could be put at risk by the withdrawal of a dispatch device they depend on to get to patients.

East Neuk First Responders have warned scrapping the smartphone trackers could cost them valuable minutes in the race to reach people who are critically ill.

The Scottish Ambulance Service has told the charity, whose volunteers go out to 999 calls ahead of the arrival of ambulance crews, that groups across the country will use the Airwaves radio terminals used by staff.

H o w e v e r, the Fife responders have pleaded with the service to allow them to continue using the Terrafix tracker smartphone system, insisting it makes a real life or death difference to its response times.

Coordinator Gillian Duncan said:“This will have a huge impact on our ability to reach patients quickly.”

The two Terrafix handsets used by the East Neuk First Responders, and paid for by public donations at a cost of £2,600, have automatic satellite navigation and show call handlers their location.

Airwaves uses handsets with a small screen and keys, which Gillian says are similar to cordless home phones and incomparable to their current devices.

Destinations must be manually keyed i nto the handsets and Gillian fears this will lead to delays.

She has pleaded with the Scottish Ambulance Service to allow the East Neuk team to continue using the Terrafix trackers in tandem with the new system.

A similar arrangement has been permitted for the Sandpiper Wildcat project in Perthshire.

Gillian said: “We are concerned taking away the Terrafix will make a difference to our response times.

“Every second counts. It can make the difference between a person surviving or not.”