The process of a call out for the Lulworth First Responder Unit is as follows:
A member of the public in our area makes a 999 call requesting an ambulance.
Dorset Ambulance NHS Trust Control Centre takes details and the operator decides whether the First Responder Unit is necessary.
If required, a call is made to the volunteers on duty.
Volunteers operate in pairs.
Volunteers mobilise, and proceed to the emergency. We don't have any blue lights or sirens and have to comply with speed limits and all other normal aspects of traffic laws.
On arrival, our First Responders will deal with the situation as required by their training
and if necessary contact the ambulance control for further guidance.
The First Responders tend to the patient, assisting him or her as required, until the ambulance unit arrives
.
The ambulance staff take over and if their assistance is no longer required, the First Responder Unit stands down.
We can only respond to a call from the Ambulance control centre to attend an emergency, so if you need us, dial 999 first. An ambulance will always be called to attend too.
Performance
Ambulances are dispatched in response to 999 emergency calls based on the clinical need of the patient.
The calls are prioritised according to the seriousness of the patient's clinical needs:
Category A: Immediately life threatening
Category B: Serious
Category C: Non-life threatening/Serious
Category A patients, i.e. those with immediately life threatening conditions, should receive a response within 8 minutes for 75% of all cases
and a vehicle which is capable of conveying the patient to hospital should arrive on scene within 19 minutes for 95% of cases.
Category B patients, i.e. those with serious, but not life threatening conditions, should receive a response which is capable of conveying the patient to hospital should arrive on scene within 19 minutes for 95% of cases.
Category C calls are considered non life threatening or serious and are required to have a response within 1 hour (Dorset) or 90 minutes (Somerset, Devon, Cornwall and Isles of Scilly) for 95% of all calls. Some of these are dealt with by a Paramedic in Accident and Emergency Control over the phone.