POLICE AND PARAMEDICS ON JOINT PATROL

Emergencies: Two-person rapid response car a first for city

Police and paramedics in the Highlands are joining forces for the first time this Christmas to form a rapid response team on the busiest nights of the year.

The two services will travel in the same vehicle to deal with everything from nights out gone wrong to violence and illness, in the pioneering move.

The two-person teams will be deployed on the busiest festive nights, particularly popular dates for office parties and large Christmas nights out.

Sergeant Nick Macrae of the Inverness City Centre Policing Team said: “We are delighted to be working in partnership with our colleagues in the Scottish Ambulance Service.

“We already work closely together in response to a number of incidents and we feel this joint response car will be beneficial to both services and to members of the public in need of our assistance.

“We anticipate that Inverness will once again be busy with parties and we hope that the vast majority of people have a safe experience which does not require our involvement.

“However, this joint initiative will allow us to provide a fast and efficient response to anyone who does require our help.”

The two emergency services will be attending incidents together between the hours of 7pm and 4am on December 22 to Hogmanay.

Traditionally, both services would dispatch separately when attending live incidents, bringing their own resources. However, on each key night they will join forces.

Steven Gorman, Area Service Manager, Scottish Ambulance Service said, “We always work closely with police and partners in the build up to the festive period to encourage members of the public to drink and behave responsibly. We are taking partnership working a step further in Inverness this year by co-responding with Police Scotland when appropriate, further enabling us to deliver a high level of patient-centred care.

“It is worth reminding people that if our hardworking ambulance crews are spending their time caring for people who are vomiting, violent or unconscious due to overindulging in alcohol, then it leaves them unable to respond to other emergencies.”

“A fast, efficient response to anyone who requires our help”

SAFETY: In a new initiative, a police officer and paramedic will work together in the same car in Inverness over Xmas to deal with emergencies