Medics to assess 999 patients by video
MEDICS will ask 999 callers to show them live video footage of patients before deciding whether to send ambulances, under NHS plans.
The scheme, which is already being rolled out in several parts of the country, is an attempt to ease pressure on emergency services. Officials said the policy would expedite help for those most in need, ensuring minor complaints were given lower priority.
Under the initiative, people calling 999 are being asked to direct their phone cameras to their injuries so paramedics can decide whether help is needed and with what urgency.
It is a response to unprecedented pressure on ambulance services and hospitals, which are failing to meet targets to respond to 999 calls or to ensure swift treatment in Accident & Emergency departments. The NHS is making a concerted effort to use technology to tailor care to patients and to reduce needless use of ambulances and other resources.
Two ambulance services have begun using a scheme to assess patients from afar using live video streaming. Another scheme, still in the trial stages, will reportedly allow crews to measure a patient’s pulse using video.
The core technology, named “instant on scene”, works by sending a text message to the 999 caller’s phone. By opening a link, the caller sends their location, grants access to their phone’s camera and the video streaming begins. The 999 call can continue while the video is streaming, allowing emergency services to provide advice and assess the patient.
The technology does not store the video to the phone and does not require an app. Kent, Surrey and Sussex Air Ambulance and Great North Air Ambulance are using the technology, which relies on a platform called GOODSAM, an app that alerts medics and those trained in life support to emergencies. The firm behind it is in talks to introduce it in other regions.
Prof Richard Lyon, the associate medical director of Kent, Surrey and Sussex Air Ambulance, said: “Time is critical in saving a person’s life or reducing long-term disability, and often we have limited information from bystanders about a patient’s or multiple patients’ injuries to make decisions. Callers usually aren’t medically trained so information isn’t always accurate.
“Being able to see the scene of the incident, not only the patients, but how many cars are involved, for example, is game-changing in helping us decide what additional resources we might need to send, assessing who we might need to treat first or what medication we might need to give.”
Prof Mark Wilson, the co-creator of GOODSAM, said the technology was “unbelievably simple” to integrate into computer systems and that he believed it could be used across the emergency services.
At the height of last winter, one in six patients taken to hospital by ambulance was forced to wait in car parks or hospital corridors for at least half an hour.
Health officials believe better use of technology and artificial intelligence is key to ensuring extra NHS funding is not wasted. Earlier this year a leaked report seen by The Daily Telegraph said NHS 111 inquiries would be handled by robots within two years. Patients’ groups have expressed concern about the safety of such models, raising fears that those without access to smartphones or computers may lose out.