Emergencies

What We Do... When an emergency call is received by Ambulance Control, the controller, aided by computer, decides what resources are required. If a PLIMS doctor is needed, the team is called by radio, mobile 'phone or pager and the nearest available medic is dispatched. We attend approximately 200 incidents per year, and treat in excess of 250 patients. These calls encompass a large variety of emergency situations such as:                           Trauma Cases These include: - Road traffic accidents (RTA) - Industrial injuries  - Agricultural accidents - Sports and recreational injuries

Medical Emergencies Medical emergencies also account for a significant proportion of our work. They include: - Heart attacks - Severe asthma - Life-threatening allergic reactions - Severe epileptic fits - Diabetic emergencies - Critically ill children

Other Emergencies In addition to the above, we offer assistance in a whole host of other emergency situations, such as: - Fires/explosions - Near-drownings - Psychiatric emergencies - Maternity emergencies at home - Hangings - Shootings/stabbings - Air incidents - Chemical Incidents

The chart below shows that road traffic accidents (RTA) are by far the most common type of emergency which we attend.

We arrive at many incidents within 5 minutes and so life-saving treatments can begin almost immediately. The following graph shows the time taken by PLIMS doctors to reach emergencies during the last 6 months. Incidents for which the response time was more than 10 minutes were usually in quite isolated rural locations.

We are proud of these figures, as all lie well within the guidelines set by the health authorities. All PLIMS doctors receive training in emergency driving techniques from both Police and Ambulance experts. This ensures that we respond not only rapidly, but also safely, to emergency calls.