Wokingham's fire crews will now be assisting ambulance service after successful trial scheme

Since December last year Wokingham’s firefighters have been co-responding to emergency medical calls in addition to their usual fire calls.

The crews have been called to an average or of more than two of the most life threatening jobs every shift since the start of the trial.

Speaking at the launch of the official scheme on Monday, January 18, Councillor Colin Dudley, chairman of the Berkshire Fire Authority, said the scheme was a fantastic opportunity.

He said: “Ladies and Gentlemen, I have to say that I can’t think of any example of collaboration that could possibly be more important than an initiative which improves the chances of people getting life-saving medical care quickly and when they really need it.

“This is certainly not about the fire service trying to take over the ambulance service, or the ambulance service not being able to cope with the demands being placed upon it.

“What it’s about is two emergency services sensibly working together to protect communities and that is something of which everybody here this evening who’s been involved in introducing co-responding to Wokingham should be very proud of indeed.”

Jack Ansell, co-responding trainer for the Southern Central Ambulance Service, helped train the fire crews and said with the scheme going ahead the first responder vehicle occasionally based in the town centre would be moved to a new site.

“A lot of the fire fighters had skills at treating trauma but that’s only a small section of what we do,” he said.

“We did the training here in the fire station, it takes about a month to train the four watches.”

Neil Carter, group manager for Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service, said: “We have four models of co-responding depending on the station and try them all.

“We are very used to dealing with traumatic incidents but this training has helped with the soft skills, going into someone’s home and reassuring them with their family nearby.”