999 callers to stream video to control centres in pilot study

EMERGENCY calls will be livestreamed on smartphones to 999 call handlers as part of a pilot study.

Selected callers during the six-month study will be sent a link to a smartphone app called GOODSAM, allowing them to send video of the scene of the incident to ambulance operation centres.

The University of Surrey has partnered with South East Coast Ambulance Service and Kent, Surrey and Sussex Air Ambulance to pilot the technology.

The developers believe live video could be useful if a caller is struggling to describe the incident, for example due to injury or language barriers.

The research will test how the technology performs in different conditions and whether the public are willing and able to use it. The potential for psychological harm to callers and dispatchers will also be assessed.

Prof Cath Taylor, of the University of Surrey’s school of health services, said: “We need to learn if 999 callers are willing for their phones to be used, and if dispatchers find it useful.

“Using video has been a success in London when people have strokes or heart attacks, but will callers be as willing to give access to their phone camera if they are with strangers at the side of a road? Or if there has been a stabbing or where they may feel in danger? We need to understand all these factors.”

The trial project’s findings will inform a larger pilot scheme to determine if livestreaming could help emergency services respond more quickly.

Prof Richard Lyon, of the University of Surrey, said: “Receiving real-time video could allow call centre staff to more rapidly and effectively assess whether to send a helicopter or a road ambulance and whether specialist resources are needed. With lives at stake and finite resources … it’s vital dispatchers have the best information so they can make the best decisions in critical circumstances.”