EMS Emergency Medical Services
Equipping the Department of Health Emergency Medical Services Paediatric Ambulances
Background:
Metro Emergency Medical Services (EMS) is the Department of Health’s ambulance service, providing emergency care to the people of the Western Cape. They take over 40 000 emergency calls per month and do 5 000 paediatric transfers per year including transfers to the Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital. The quality of these transfers directly impacts on the medical state of a patient upon arrival at the Hospital or any other clinical destination and their overall prognosis.
Problem:
Inferior and unreliable equipment prevents EMS from running a specialised paediatric service in each of the districts, increasing equipment failure and unacceptable delays in response to Paediatric calls.
Solution:
The upgrade and expansion of Paediatric Services rendered by Metro EMS in the Western Cape Province by fully equipping four ambulances with specialised paediatric equipment. Two will service the Cape Metropole 24 hours a day with a fast response, and 1 each servicing George and Worcester in support of the Regional Hospitals in those towns. There are no staffing implications for this project as the necessary personnel are already paid for by Metro EMS through Province.
Budget:
To fully equip the 4 ambulances and provide other ancillary support equipment is a total of R2 million.
Timeline:
All 4 ambulances fully equipped with specialised paediatric equipment were launched on 18October 2011.
For more information on this project please contact Philippa Douglas
