Paramedic UK » SCAS

South Central Ambulance Service launches hard-hitting campaign with Rocket Science

Editor — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 21:17:57 +0000

South Central Ambulance Service (SCAS) and South Central Strategic Health Authority have created a viral campaign with Rocket Science, part of Twofour Group, to show how misusing 999 costs lives.

The project, which aims to help tackle hoax calling and inappropriate use of the ambulance service, revolves around a YouTube video, supported by an online seeding and PR plan.

Garo Berberian, executive producer, said: “Being out on the road with the ambulance service, along with an intense period of research, was absolutely paramount to the successful execution of the project. It also allowed us to realise, first hand, how incredibly hard the ambulance service works and the importance of cutting down hoax callers and inappropriate use.”

via The Drum.

SCAS launch campaign to stop hoax calls

Editor — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 12:20:48 +0000

A campaign to stop bogus and inappropriate calls to the region’s ambulance service is launched today.

Frustrated bosses and crews at South Central Ambulance Service (SCAS) want to stamp out abuse of the 999 system which saw them receive 1,235 hoax calls last year.

They were also faced with a deluge of absurd requests including changing of light bulbs, providing lifts home, fixing TV remote controls and attending to pets.

The service is highlighting the scale of the problem to make time wasters think twice – and warned lives are being put at risk by people without a genuine emergency calling 999.

People with non life-threatening health issues are advised to contact their GP, NHS Direct, walk in centres or other out of hours health services.

via News in Maidenhead

Hampshire ambulance staff are best in country

Editor — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 11:40:59 +0000

Hampshire’s ambulance service provider is the best in England.

And to prove it South Central Ambulance Service scooped the Ambulance Trust of the Year gong at the Health Businesses Awards ceremony held at Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium.

The regional ambulance service which also covers Berkshire, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire, fought off competition for the title, from the West Midlands Ambulance Service, South Western Ambulance Service and London Ambulance Service.

via Daily Echo.

South Central Ambulance Service wins award

Editor — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 23:20:29 +0000

South Central Ambulance Service NHS Trust SCAS has been named ‘Ambulance Trust of the Year’.

The service scooped the top prize at the 2011 Health Business Awards ceremony at the Emirates Stadium in London on December 8.It covers Hampshire along with several other counties and beat out its counterparts in the West Midlands, South West and London for the award.

Figures showed it was the best performing ambulance trust in England for response times and had improved its percentage of patients treated without having to go to hospital.

via Hampshire Chronicle.

Pensioner dies after three hour wait for ambulance following slip on black ice

Editor — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 14:19:12 +0000

An 88-year-old pensioner died after she was left lying on a freezing cold pavement for three hours while waiting for an ambulance, it has been alleged.

It is thought Doreen Wignall fell on black ice causing a head injury as she crossed a bridge in Ludgershall, Wiltshire.

via Mail Online.

Injured biker dies after being run over by ambulance

Editor — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 06:57:25 +0000

A biker lying injured in the road after falling from his motorcycle died after he was run over by an Ambulance responding to a separate 999 call.

Michael James Colley, 33, from Calne, had come off his Suzuki GSXR in the early hours of Sunday morning as he rode along the A4 at Black Dog Hill.

Two passers-by stopped their car to help and found him unconscious but breathing and phoned for an ambulance.

Shortly afterwards an ambulance transporting a patient to Bath’s Royal United Hospital drove towards them and collided with Mr Colley, who was still lying in the road.

A Great Western Ambulance Service spokesman said the ambulance was “travelling under emergency conditions – with blue lights but no sirens and not at speed”.

via Swindon Advertiser

Paramedic reflects on 40-years of service

Editor — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 20:40:51 +0000

A paramedic from Trowbridge who was called out to the aftermath of a policeman’s murder in Trowbridge has retired after 40 years with the ambulance service.

Colleagues of Chris Rosewarn, clinical team leader at Trowbridge Ambulance Station in Hilperton Road, collected him in the vintage Austin Princess ambulance from Trowbridge ambulance station on Saturday afternoon and took him to a special farewell party they had organised at Hilperton Village Hall.

They had a barbecue and disco and he was presented with an inscribed plaque, a satellite navigation system, some holiday vouchers and several bottles.

via Wiltshire Times.

OAP left waiting by dining paramedics

Editor — Sun, 28 Jun 2009 09:42:03 +0000

An injured 96-year-old was left shivering on a pavement for more than an hour – because an ambulance crew was having dinner.

The frail woman was wearing just a nightgown when she fell during the early hours.

Read full article: Metro.co.uk .

SCAS: we need volunteers to hit waiting times

Editor — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 10:41:52 +0000

Key ambulance waiting times will only be hit if members of the public attend to some patients first, a health chief has said.

A South Central Ambulance Service boss said it could not get to 75 per cent of seriously ill patients within eight minutes without peoples’ help.

It is offering to train residents as “community first responders” who would attend some cases, such as heart attacks.

Read full article: Bucks Free Press.

Stroke patients misdiagnosed by 999 system

Editor — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 07:19:59 +0000

More than half of stroke patients taken to Basingstoke hospital by ambulance were misdiagnosed by the 999 call system, a new study reveals.

Potentially vital emergency care was delayed after computer software used by call-handlers at South Central Ambulance Service NHS Trust (SCAS) misdiagnosed stroke victims.

During the six-month study (December 2006 to May 2007), of almost 5,000 patients admitted to Basingstoke hospital by ambulance, 126 were subsequently diagnosed by a doctor as having had a stroke.

Read full article: This is Hampshire.