Emergency Services & Partners - North East Ambulance Service
North East Ambulance
Service (NEAS)
 “North East Ambulance Service – aiming
to provide responsive, high quality, caring services for the people
of the North East”
The North East Ambulance Service NHS Trust (NEAS) was established
as a Trust on April 1st 1999, amalgamating the former Northumbria
and Durham County Services.
NEAS provides accident and emergency (A&E) and non-emergency
patient transport services (PTS) to the two million people living
in Tyne and Wear, Northumberland and County Durham, over an area
of 3,000 square miles.
North East Ambulance Service NHS Trust
and NHS Direct cover the same operational area from Berwick in the
north, to the Cumbria border in the west down to Darlington in the
south.
The Role of NEAS during a Major Incident
The Ambulance Service is responsible for co-ordinating the on-site
health service response and determining the hospital(s) to which
injured persons should be taken. If necessary the Ambulance Service
will seek the attendance of a Medical Incident Officer (MIO) and
Mobile Medical Team(s) (MMT). The Ambulance Service, in conjunction
with the MIO and medical teams, seeks to save life and limb through
effective emergency treatment at the scene, to determine the priority
for release of trapped casualties in conjunction with the Fire and
Rescue Service and to transport the injured, in order of priority,
to receiving hospitals.
The Ambulance Service is also responsible for establishing a casualty
clearing point and ambulance loading point. In addition, they will
notify the relevant receiving hospitals to advise them of the situation
and the likelihood of them receiving casualties.
The Ambulance Service is the ‘gateway’ to the health
service and, when required, will seek advice from within health
organisations (i.e. Health Protection Agency) to assist in the response
to incidents to ensure the care and protection of the community
at large.
At any incident involving casualties, the Police Control Room will
alert the Ambulance Service. Where the Ambulance Control is alerted direct
by a “999” call, this action should be reciprocated.
The North East Ambulance Service will be responsible, at any DECLARED
major incident (whether Medical and Ambulance resources are required
or not), for initiating their Major Incident (Standby or Implement)
callout cascade and contacting the Hospital Trust (Hospitals which
operate 24/7 Accident & Emergency (A&E) departments), which
will if deemed appropriate, initiate their Major Incident (MAJAX)
Plans.
It is the responsibility of the Acute Hospital contacted to inform
the Teaching Primary Care Trust of the incident, who in turn will
cascade the information to the Northumberland and Tyne and Wear
Strategic Health Authority and Health Protection Agency Emergency
Planning Adviser. The Emergency Planning Adviser will then
attempt to re-call the appropriate Health Agencies, in order to confirm that
all appropriate agencies are fully aware of the incident.
The scale and nature of the incident will be assessed by the first
North East Ambulance Service representative present at the scene.
Additional resources will then be made available and any necessary
arrangements concerning medical assistance under major incident
procedures activated accordingly.
The North East Ambulance Service representative will identify himself/herself
to Police Incident Control and contact any local doctor who may,
if present, be acting in the capacity of the Medical Incident Officer
until the arrival of that individual at the scene.
The EPU maintain close links with the Ambulance Service, as one
of the key Blue Light Agencies and
work with the Emergency Planning team within NEAS in developing
training and exercises. Norland Series
|
