East Midlands Ambulance Service (EMAS) receives a 999 call every 40 seconds. It operates 650 emergency vehicles, each carrying vital equipment such as defibrillators, and needed emergency service equipment tracking that could keep pace with that scale.
CoreRFID upgraded EMAS’s RFID system to run on an Android-based platform, improving equipment monitoring, maintenance and compliance procedures. The upgrade follows CoreRFID’s original installation five years earlier, which replaced a manual tracking system.
The system uses electronic tags attached to each piece of kit, scanned by readers that detect tags from up to 2m away without needing a direct line of sight. Information such as serial numbers downloads automatically to EMAS’s database, keeping the team updated on each item’s last known location and condition.
EMAS’s fleet of ambulances, fast response cars and urgent care vehicles received over one million emergency and urgent calls last year from the region’s five million residents.
“My team needs to be able to find kit and know it’s safe for patient use, having passed all compliance tests. We manage 650 vehicles across six counties, each carrying several pieces of vital life-saving equipment. The RFID system assists us in monitoring this equipment efficiently and effectively.”
– Steve Farnworth, General Manager, EMAS
“Emergency service equipment tracking lets teams accurately track and improve procedures with less resource needed than manual systems. While RFID is an established solution, emergency services can upgrade their systems to meet new challenges and take advantage of improved software and readers becoming available.”
– Richard Harrison, Technical Sales Director, CoreRFID
CoreRFID has also provided tracking solutions to the NHS, including Addenbrooke’s Hospital, and to Medical Gas Solutions, which supplies oxygen and nitronox cylinders to NHS trusts, ambulance and fire services.
The benefits:
- Emergency service equipment tracking across 650 vehicles and six counties
- Tags readable from up to 2m without needing a direct line of sight
- Automatic updates on kit location and condition
- A system that’s been upgraded over time to meet new operational needs