Get an inside view of ambulance services

* Take a look around a Clinical Contact Centre.  

 

* Meet the Hazardous Area Response Team from Bridgend.

 

* A 360 degree look inside an emergency ambulance.

 

MOST people who find themselves in the back of an ambulance have usually acquired a serious illness or injury.

But now you can get an exclusive sneak peek around a vehicle from the comfort of your own home.

The Welsh Ambulance Service has developed an interactive virtual tour that helps people better understand the role of frontline crews and the life-saving equipment they use.

For the first time, visitors to the Trust’s website can also take a 360 degree look around a busy Clinical Contact Centre, where 999 calls are received and vehicles are dispatched, as well as the Area Ambulance Centre in Bridgend, where the revered Hazardous Area Response Team (HART) is based.

See the specialist kit worn at the scene of industrial accidents and natural disasters, as well as chemical, biological, radioactive, nuclear and terrorist incidents, along with state-of-the-art vehicles used at major incidents.

Fiona Maclean, the Trust’s Community Involvement and Engagement Manager, said: “We want to demystify the Welsh Ambulance Service, and give the public a real insight into what we are about.

“We want to move away from the perception that we are simply a transport service, and encourage people to realise that actually we are a provider of high-quality healthcare comparable with the best.

“Our services are tailor-made for each community’s differing environmental and medical needs, from rapid response cars to emergency ambulances, to paramedics on the road and nurses in our Clinical Contact Centres.

“These tours prove just how clinically advanced we have become as a service.”

The tours were developed to coincide with NHS Wales’ Choose Well campaign, which encourages the public to re-think about what kind of medical attention they need when they are ill or injured.

For advice and treatment for non-emergencies and less serious conditions consider a visit to your local pharmacist, GP surgery, or call NHS Direct Wales on 0845 46 47.

The Trust is reminding people to only dial 999 in a medical emergency when it is obvious that you or another person has a serious or life-threatening illness or injury and needs time-critical help.

Visit www.nhsdirect.wales.nhs.uk for free, confidential health advice 24/7, and www.choosewellwales.org.uk for more information on the Choose Well campaign.

Go to the ‘What Do We Do?’ section at

www.ambulance.wales.nhs.uk to access the virtual tours.