Wales Air Ambulance is marking International Control Room Week by thanking the teams
responsible for coordinating its crews.
A dispatch team and critical care practitioners work on a dedicated Wales Air Ambulance
Critical Care Hub based at the Welsh Ambulance Service clinical contact centre in Cwmbran.
The Hub is operational 24 hours a day and teams operate in 12-hour shifts. Each team
comprises a critical care practitioner alongside an experienced dispatch team member.
Greg Browning is the Critical Care Hub Manager. He explained: “The Hub duty team monitor
every active 999 call in Wales as they are logged on the Welsh Ambulance Service system.
This information is displayed across five screens and there will be a variety of clues that
highlight where Wales Air Ambulance’s early critical care intervention will potentially
improve the outcome for a patient.
“Identifying the call is just the first step in this essential role. Dispatching a Wales Air
Ambulance crew involves alerting the appropriate or available team and sharing key
information. This includes a grid reference for an air response or a postcode for a road
response.
“Although the pilot and on-board medical team will decide on a landing site once overhead,
there are often precautions to take.
“The vital role of the Hub also includes alerting the police and others at the scene of an
incident, as well as giving safety advice. At times, the crew may need to be met at a landing
site and conveyed to the scene, or an emergency road closure will need to be arranged to
allow for a carriageway landing.
“During a mission, the Hub team records timings and arranges logistical support while
liaising with medical professionals at the receiving hospital. Often, it is the case that all four
aircraft are at separate concurrent incidents, or occasionally any number could be at the
same one.”
Greg added: “I’m very proud of the team and the work of the Hub.”
The Critical Care Hub also uses GoodSAM technology to view and assess an incident
remotely through a bystander’s smartphone camera. By following a link sent by text
message and allowing access to their camera, the bystander can share live video with the
team without needing to download an app. This gives the team a clearer picture of the
scene, helping to inform decisions about the critical care response.
Dr Sue Barnes, Chief Executive of the Wales Air Ambulance Charity, said: “As we mark
International Control Room Week, Wales Air Ambulance would like to say a huge thank you
to those who work on our Critical Care Hub.
“They are the hidden heroes, a vital component of our service. Without them, our operation
would not be able to run effectively and critically ill or injured patients may not get the care
they need.
“Patients and their families may never see the work of the Critical Care Hub, but it is an
essential part of our response. By identifying where our specialist care is needed and
coordinating our crews, the teams help critically ill and injured people across Wales receive
that care when they need it most.
“Thank you to all our critical care hub colleagues for your commitment and dedication to
such an important role. We really appreciate the hard work you do daily.”
Wales Air Ambulance is consultant-led, taking hospital-standard treatments to the patient
and, if required, transferring them directly to the most appropriate hospital for their illness
or injury.
It is delivered via a unique third sector and public sector partnership. The Wales Air
Ambulance Charity relies on public donations to raise the £13 million required every year to
keep the helicopters in the air and rapid response vehicles on the road.
The Emergency Medical Retrieval and Transfer Service (EMRTS) supplies highly skilled NHS
consultants and critical care practitioners who work on board the Charity’s vehicles.
This advanced critical care includes the ability to administer anaesthesia, deliver blood
transfusions and conduct minor operations, all at the scene of an incident.
As a pan-Wales service, its dedicated crews, regardless of where they are based, will travel
the length and breadth of the country to deliver emergency critical care.
This year, the Wales Air Ambulance Charity marks its 25 th anniversary, having attended over
58,000 missions since its inception in 2001. On average, Wales Air Ambulance attends 3,600
combined missions by road and air every year.
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