A multi-million pound scheme to provide the latest high-tech equipment in emergency ambulances will allow crews to treat more patients at the scene and could help cut hospital admissions, the chief executive of the Scottish Ambulance Service has said.
A total of £3.5 million of Scottish Government cash is being invested in the first phase of the programme which will see state-of-the-art technology installed in more than 500 ambulances.
The initial phase will see new communications hubs installed in the vehicle, along with hard-wearing tablet devices in the front and rear which crews can input patient details into and then transmit the information on.
The second part of the project, which is scheduled for 2016/17, will see video-link technology installed that could be used for consultations while new diagnostic devices which could provide more details about patients' conditions will also be put in.
Scottish Ambulance Service chief executive Pauline Howie said: "The investment in new technology for emergency ambulances will ultimately widen the range of diagnostics that can be performed out of hospital and connect patients to clinical consultations.
"This will allow the patient to be treated safely in the community, where appropriate, reducing unnecessary admissions and the need for long journeys to hospital."
Health Secretary Shona Robison said: "The Scottish Government encourages increased use of technology in realising our 2020 Vision for safe, effective and integrated health and social care for Scotland.
"The Scottish Ambulance Service provides a critical service where having the right information at the right time is vital.
"This investment will enable better mobile care, allowing the ambulance service to bring more care to patients and increase the number of patients treated at the scene before referring on to appropriate health or social care service, where required."
ends
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article