THE ambulance and fire services in Monmouthshire have begun working closely together in a special pilot scheme launched this week.

The trial, launched on Monday (21st December) sees the two emergency services form a new Fire Medical Response (FMR) in an attempt to address consistently poor ambulance response times across the rural county.

Fire Medical Response teams will be mobilised by fire control, as directed by the Welsh Ambulance Service Trust.

South Wales Fire and Rescue Service will mobilise fire appliances as part of the FMR pilot, as well as 4x4 vehicles, both of which will proceed under blue light conditions.

The vehicles will be equipped with specialised equipment enabling fully trained staff to respond to a set of clinical conditions where their arrival could be achieved the soonest, and where they would be adding the most value with their training and equipment.

This includes being mobilised to cardiac arrests, casualties who are reported unconscious or choking, and catastrophic bleeding.

The pilot is being rolled out over the three Fire and Rescue Services in Wales and the Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust and is expected to continue until June 2016.

Speaking on behalf of the three Welsh fire services, South Wales Assistant Chief Fire Officer, Andrew Thomas said: “This pilot is an opportunity for us to work more closely together to the benefit of the public in Wales, improving collaborative working between the emergency services to ensure a better operational response, increase operational services and improve resilience – adding real value for money whilst working more effectively and efficiently.”

Greg Lloyd, Head of Clinical Operations at the Welsh Ambulance Service, said: “Every second counts in an emergency. If our fire service colleagues can get to a scene before one of our ambulances they can begin to deliver life-saving treatment – that’s only going to improve that patient’s chance of surviving.

“Fire Medical Response (FMR) crews are being trained to administer life-saving treatment, including CPR and the use of a defibrillator. We must stress that they will not replace the normal response of a paramedic in a rapid response car or an emergency ambulance, but will form part of an integrated approach to providing immediate, life-saving treatment to patients in our communities.

“Fire Medical Response (FMR) personnel play an important role alongside frontline ambulance staff in making sure patients get appropriate help quickly and efficiently, and they’re very much part of the Welsh Ambulance Service family.” 

North Wales Fire and Rescue Service’s Assistant Chief Fire Officer Richard Fairhead said, “We would like to reassure residents across Wales that there will be absolutely no reduction in emergency response and service delivery, either from the fire and rescue services across Wales or from the Welsh Ambulance Services Trust, during the pilot period.

“The pilot will involve mobilising responders who are suitably trained individuals who will work to preserve life until the arrival of either an ambulance or rapid response vehicle.

“The exact nature of the pilot will vary in each Welsh Fire and Rescue Service region but the overall aim of working together to save lives will be a common approach in the three regions.”

The pilot follows similar schemes being launched by a total of 43 participating fire and rescue services across the UK. At the end of the pilot period, detailed evaluation will take place to determine its success.Long-standing campaigner for better response times in Monmouth, Mathew Davies, commented: “I am happy to hear that the ambulance service is merging with the fire service in order to cut waiting times. Paramedics deserve all the help they can get in order to do what they do best. Saving lives!“Nonetheless, the response times last winter were the worst on record, and I am skeptical about the new performance system the government put in place last autumn. The Welsh Government effectively took away the ability to hold them to account by comparing the Welsh service to other regional services.“We need local solutions. This is great news at Christmas time.“It now makes sense that the fire service is devolved if the ambulance service is. Closer co-operation is logical in order to maximize the safety of the community and taxpayers' money. It will be interesting to see whether this works. Monmouth has suffered from some of slowest responses and most people know someone who needed help and instead experienced a long wait.“Thankfully, I know that local paramedics and members of the fire service care deeply about the community. I have no doubt that they will do everything they can to make this initiative work for the people of Monmouth”