THE Welsh Ambulance Service is one of a group of ambulance trusts using an app to help them navigate to hospital areas and the Nightingale site in Cardiff – making sure they are able to get to the correct places.
The what3words app splits the entire world into small square blocks, with each designated a unique three-word code - allowing users to describe exactly where there are, down to a matter of yards. It allows the patients, staff and PPE to arrive at the correct location safely.
During the coronavirus pandemic, many hospitals have changed entrances around to be able to keep those with coronavirus and those with other conditions separate.
This has meant in some hospitals, patients and drivers are having to use new or different entrances and those entrances – especially for the Nightingale hospitals – may be unfamiliar to those heading there.
What3words addresses have been distributed for all the key locations including ambulance staff entrances, drop off points for PPE and waste disposal areas at all sites.
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Jason Fenard, locality manager for the Welsh Ambulance Service’s Hazardous Area Response Team and Specialist Operations, said: “Postcodes can often be difficult to find in some areas in Wales due to the geography, but the work that what3words has delivered has ensured that crews from any region in Wales have the ability to accurately locate access points and other key areas in the new field hospitals and medical facilities, even if they are unfamiliar with the local areas.
“This ultimately ensures that the patient is moved to the appropriate point of care as promptly as possible with minimal disruption, and crew exposure time is also lessened therefore reducing risk to our staff.
“We have used this system before in WAST to locate casualties from emergency calls in remote areas with our Hazardous Area Response Team but using it in this planning and response phase of the Covid-19 pandemic has been really useful too.”
Chris Sheldrick, CEO and co-founder of what3words added, “The strength of feeling and unified support of our NHS across the country has compelled us to do whatever we can to work with and back-up the resources of our vital key workers during this crisis. We've created these maps at the request of the Yorkshire Ambulance Service, Welsh Ambulance Service and South Western Ambulance Service teams who are working at NHS sites across the regions they operate in.”
For a full list of emergency services that accept what3words addresses in the UK, visit: https://what3words.com/news/emergency/uk-emergency-services-rollout-what3words-in-control-rooms-to-save-resources-time-and-lives/
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