What we do

A Community First Responder will respond to 999 calls made to the Ambulance Service in their local community. The responder on call for a unit holds a pager and a mobile phone. The calls will come through on the pager from the ambulance control, automatically giving details of the emergency.

If it is suitable to go and the responder is available, then they phone control on the mobile and state they are able to attend. At this point the controller allocates them to the call or declines.

Some calls are declined because of issues regarding the safety of the responder. i.e violence, alcohol etc. The responder then, if allocated, proceeds to the call in their own vehicle to give assistance to the patient prior to the NHS ambulance arriving. Once the responder has dealt with the call they call in the final details to control and then return home.