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Press Releases
Taro Naw: local volunteers to aid ambulance crews
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As the Board of Trustees for the Welsh Ambulance Service holds its annual public meeting today to hear about the condition of the service, Taro Naw (大象传媒 Wales on S4C) travels to Straffordshire to see how the system works there.
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Staffordshire has the best ambulance response rate in Britain and it is probable that Wales will adopt the same system.
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Gwyn Pritchard, an expert on the service which has transformed emergency response systems in the USA, accompanied Taro Naw to Staffordshire and told the programme that he believes the system can cut down on costs whilst reaching more patients in less time than it currently takes in Wales.
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The success of the system depends partly on the local volunteers - the 'First Responders' - who have been trained by paramedics to save lives in their communities.
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When urgent medical attention is needed, the control centre decides if it would be faster to send a team of First Responders than the nearest paramedic team.
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Living locally, their travelling time to reach the patient is often considerably less than that of the ambulance and they can offer important medical care quickly.
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First Responders are part of the System Status Management (SSM) model which was developed in the USA.
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The system also arranges for ambulances to be placed in temporary centres in the communities and historical data is used to work out where the ambulance will be most needed.
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Another difference, compared to the system in Wales, is that the paramedics look after the control centres as well as driving the ambulances.
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Dafydd Jones Morris, Principal Officer for the North Wales Amulance Service but speaking on behalf of the Ambulance Service in Wales, told Taro Naw that staff and managers are ready to adopt the SSM: "In Wales, we've been waiting for change for years and we welcome elements of the SSM system in Wales."
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Elements of the system are already in place in the Llanrwst area and Rev Gerwyn Roberts has been trained as a First Responder.
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He welcomes the opportunity to help the ambulance crews: "If I could save one life then it's worth it and I believe that the work is a part and parcel of being a member of the community."
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As the report by the Auditor, Jeremy Coleman, on the future of the service is about to be published, it is expected that a system very similar to that in Staffordshire will soon be adopted as a future model in Wales.
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Taro Naw, Tuesday 26 September 2006 at 8.25pm, 大象传媒 Wales on S4C.
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English subtitles available.
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SR
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