Ambulances are being delayed in reaching injured walkers by the inability of some controllers to use grid references. Photo: Graham Richardson CC BY 2.0
Britain’s biggest walkers’ campaign group is calling for an end to the postcode lottery that it says puts injured outdoor enthusiasts at risk.
The Ramblers’ 999 campaign highlights the fact that many ambulance control-room staff cannot take grid references from walkers and others in the outdoors who need to summon help.
The campaign calls on ambulance trusts across the country to make sure their software and staff training will allow distressed walkers to pinpoint casualties in remote locations. The Ramblers have collected many instances where controllers have insisted on having a postcode so ambulance crews can use vehicle sat-nav to locate incidents.
But many hillside and rural locations don’t have a postcode and, even if they do, someone ringing for help may not know it.
The Ramblers have found instances of where the emergency services’ lack of ability to respond to grid references has led to delay in casualties receiving treatment.
Tom Franklin, the Ramblers chief executive said: “Walkers and all outdoor enthusiasts have the right to feel secure in the British countryside.
“This includes confidence in their ambulance trust to provide emergency care if it’s needed in remote locations, with a rapid response and without confusion or added stress for the caller.”
Karen Inkster, Ramblers led-walks officer, added: “When enjoying the outdoor environment I want to be sure that if an emergency occurs an ambulance crew can find me, even if the location I provide is in the form of an OS grid reference.
“Using a ‘postcode lottery’ to track down an injured walker is not something the Department of Health should condone.”
Members have reported numerous incidents in the South and South-West of England, the Peak District, Midlands and Scotland. In one case an ambulance was sent to the wrong location resulting in a delay of an hour and in others, walkers have had to describe local landmarks despite being able to provide a grid reference.
In many of the reported incidents, Ramblers members have had to run to nearby properties to find out their postcode.
The Ramblers are calling for all ambulance trusts to take responsibility for rural incident responses by ensuring they have adequate software and offer comprehensive training to control room staff to interpret grid references, to ensure all countryside users are within their reach.
The North East, Yorkshire, North West, West Midlands, Great Western and South East Coast Ambulance Services say their software is able to interpretate grid references and control room staff are trained in how to handle grid references. The South Western Ambulance Trust has agreed to buy the necessary software after an approach by the Ramblers.
The organisation also wants the Department of Health to produce best practice guidance for the trusts encouraging them to ensure that the software they use to process calls can handle grid reference locations, and that staff are properly trained in its use.
The Ramblers are calling on fellow walkers and outdoor enthusiasts to make their view known to the Department of Health. Details of the campaign and how to make a submission are on the Ramblers’ website.
Mountain rescue teams, which are also called out under police control via the 999 system, are trained and equipped to respond to incidents using grid references.
Adamski
15 June 2011People injured on hill should call 999 police then ask for mountain rescue.wait for the rescue team to call you back.
Stuart
16 June 2011An equally important issue is the delay between the ambulances being dispatched and the mountain rescue teams even being called. Usually the ambulance crews will get to the scene before realising they can't cope and then calling the MR team leading to even more delays.
Ian Jones
16 June 2011@Adamski- this isn't just about areas covered by MRT, it's the whole rural countryside, anywhere away from a street name basically. We can all (ahem) easily give a 6 fig. grid ref. It takes 5 minutes to learn how to do it, STREETMAP takes OS grids why the hell can't 999 operators? Does this apply to all 3 emergency services too? If I see an armed mugging up Stob Corrie nan Fraoch Dearg Beag nam Bodach Mhor, will the polis ignore my call without a postcode?
Paul
16 June 2011If anyone needs help with grid references, Simon King made an excellent video guide for us here: http://blog.ordnancesurvey.co.uk/2011/06/know-your-grid-references/ (disclaimer - I work at OS!)
Gerald Davison
16 June 2011If involved in a medical/trauma incident away from a public highway I would always call 999/112 and ask for the Police and quote a grid reference. Ambulance service appears to operate on the basis of dispatching a crew to try to reach you. They only appear to escalate to another service if they arrive and find they cannot get to you or cannot evacuate without assistance. This can lead to severe delays. The Police will call the appropriate services to assist, which may be Ambulance, Mountain Rescue, Lowland Search and Rescue Team (ALSAR), Air Ambulance, or a combination.
If I am near, or on, a road I would go for Ambulance first and quote a grid. If they don't understand a grid I'd hang up and redial to speak to the Police.
By the way, when giving a grid ref always remember to quote the two letters for the 100km square identifier. Calling from a mobile phone could result in your call being answered "out of area" and it would be a shame if the Police/Ambulance ended up going to a spot several hundred km away......
Gerald Davison
16 June 2011@Paul - nice video, but I would suggest it is better to use a romer to get an accurate grid ref. 30 years of hill experience and teaching navigation part time has shown me that estimating by eye produces rather variable results.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romer for details on what a romer is if you don't know. They can be bought as a separate clear plastic card to put onto the map, alternatively most good baseplate compasses like a Silva Type 4 or Recta DT200 have romers at various map scales... just remember to use the right one! :-)
Simon C
16 June 2011As Adamski said, people should be calling for Police/Mountain Rescue, not the ambulance service. Obviously many (most?) people don't realise this - so rather than training ambulance control room staff to understand grid references, shouldn't they be trained to transfer such calls to the right people?
@Ian Jones - this may not be just about areas with mountain rescue teams, but most of those mentioned do have them. Even if an ambulance is given and understands a grid reference, it's a waste of valuable time if they get there only to find that the casualty is well away from the road so they have to call mountain rescue anyway.
Richard Warren, LDSAMRA
16 June 2011Its the hottest topic I have read for quite some time. Within the Lake District there is an agreed protocol with the Police and NWAS with regard to responding to a '999' call and the dispatching of assets. If a '999' call for an off road incident goes directly to the Ambulance service, they will notifiy Cumbria Police immediately if it requires an MR response but also contact the Team leader for that area - give a heads up and ask for any advice on the location, access and what asset may be needed and when.
If the protocol is followed then the emergency response will be appropriate and in the best interest of the injured person. If as a rambler you are in Cumbria and know you are at a point where an ambulance crew or indeed an air ambulance cannot get to you and you do not want any delays, then make sure you ask for Cumbria Police then Mountain Rescue - MR will work through the Police to bring in SAR helicopters, Air Ambulances or road ambulances as necessary depending on the terrain and the nature of the emergency. MRT are the only rescue service that can respond under nearly all conditions that occur in mountainous terrain - day or night 24/7. This is a message that we have been publicising regularly to ensure you get the best response possible. Safe walking.
Gerald Davison
17 June 2011Well put Richard.
I think the difficulty for the Ambulance Service is that they get so few calls that need this type of response (as a percentage) that it is hard for them to think of invoking assistance from MR or ALSAR teams until they get on scene and realise the task involved.
I'm in a N. Wales MR team and only last night we had the exact scenario where an Ambulance was called, the crew walked into the casualty and then asked for assistance when it was clear they could not be evacuated without MR assistance. We called for RAF heli too. I'm not blaming the Ambulance Service or the Crew, this is a rare type of incident in our area and we can't expect them to cater for every scenario in their operating procedures.
My personal view is that groups like the Ramblers should be educating their membership and the greater population to call the Police for assistance when away from the public highway (in the manner you have described above). That way they will get the right assets all invoked at pretty much the same time.
Most of Scotland, Wales and N. Ireland are covered by MR teams and England is pretty much covered by a combination of MR teams and lowland search and rescue teams (ALSAR) all full of volunteers equipped, trained and very willing to assist.
Gerald Davison
17 June 2011Ooops! Just read the campaign page on the Ramblers website. They do indeed say to contact the Police if away from a public highway. Suspect it needs greater prominence and publicity. Well done for sound advice though!
"If an emergency does occur when you are out walking you may need to ask for a different emergency service depending on where you are. If you are somewhere where an ambulance can reach you such as a country lane or roadside - you need to call 999 and ask for the ambulance. If your somewhere where an ambulance can’t reach you, a hillside or forest for example, you need to call 999 and ask for the police. "
Lee Davidson
27 June 2011Earlier in the year I had problems reporting possible gas leaks in the Pennines from rural locations. The National Grid reporting centre could not cope with grid references, and indeed didn't have access to a decent mapping system at that time. They kept asking for street names (!) or postcodes. They did not even seem to have access to a map of gas assets which might have assisted in explaining the location. When I pointed out that it is very hard -- and not free -- to find out a postcode away from urban areas with named streets they seemed mildly surprised. As they have many miles of high pressure gas main running through the countryside I thought they were singularly ill-prepared. I was assured they were going to get a proper mapping system which would deal with grid references but I have not so far encountered another smell to report.
james hanson
04 September 2011The use of postcodes, with sat navs, in ambulances and paramedic response vehicles is severely flawed.
Recently, a man who suffered a heart attack in his car was taken to a hospital some 8 miles from the incident, on minor roads, via a large and congested town centre, although a major hospital was easily accessible some 6 miles away, along a clear dual carriageway with no congested areas, in half the time.
The reason for this was that the ambulance service and the hospital were based in the same postcode area as the incident.
I estimate that the journey to the 'in the postcode area' hospital would have taken around 20 minutes to complete, as opposed to under 10 minutes to the 'out of the postcode' hospital.
Sadly, the patient died minutes after arrival at hospital.
Who can say that his chances of survival wouldn't have been favourable should the ambulance driver have chosen the closer hospital, arriving for treatment some 10 minutes earlier?