Jason Somerville, Head of Clinical Communications and Telemetry/Lead Communications Tactical Advisor (Airwave), South Central Ambulance Service NHS Trust, shares his insight ahead of the BAPCO 2024 Annual Event. Jason will be participating in a panel discussion on future technology developments - what developments are on the horizon that the Emergency Services need to know about? 

Topics such as the development and implementation of 6G are likely to feature in this panel, which Jason states are of the utmost importance to the frontline responder: "'Connectivity and capacity’, if robust and reliable, are so important to ensure the responder can access ‘information’ at their fingertips, whenever and wherever it is needed, reliably and seamlessly," he says.

Focusing on my sector, this could facilitate access to healthcare advice, care records, reliable HQ video consultations etc. We do some of this already, but perhaps we could consult differently with a patients' GP or a pharmacy or physiotherapist  – allowing a healthcare responder, whether from primary or secondary care, to access support to facilitate a better patient experience, treat them at home, or signpost more seamlessly to an alternative care provider, reducing all of the standard delays."

Jason recognises that the NHS Ambulance sector which currently "has very traditional methods of mobilisation and communication albeit on more modern platforms" will need to bring more information and data to the responder to support the increased pressure to make swift decisions.

When looking ahead to future technologies, Jason reflects that while the smart ambulance is making some traction, there are still varying definitions on what actually constitutes a 'smart' ambulance, ranging from "one that is autonomously driven, working seamlessly with smart city technologies to ambulances which have virtual connectivity with hospital technologies, to being ‘smart’ in terms of recognising the inventory on board, re-ordering stock to be ready when the vehicle arrives back."

Other future developments might include "virtual or extended reality (VR/ XR) and haptic devices at the point of care/incident scene or other emergency situation, whether for the responder to mimic remote actions or provide clear guidance from a remote expert, where both parties can see and place themselves in the situation in near real time."  

Jason believes transfer of information horizontally rather than just vertically could open up several opportunities for the public safety industry:

Individually, public safety organisations arguably use relatively vertical communication models – insular to the specific service, albeit with some ‘horizontal’ communications enabling voice only comms via shared radio talk-groups for joint working in the acute scenario.

For example, I’d like to see an easy way  to link a group of public safety organisations together at a major incident, facilitating a closed high capacity ‘bubble of data and voice interconnectivity’. From a command perspective this might help the tactical decision making processes. In my opinion, reliable data interoperability is key for UK public safety communications."

Jason will be speaking at 11.45am on 6th March 2024 at the BAPCO Annual Event in Coventry. You can register for your free place here.