Ambulance radio issues news article

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Mike Alpha
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Ambulance radio issues news article

Post by Mike Alpha » Sat May 06, 2017 12:25 am

This was in print a couple of weeks ago and has now become available online - http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/n ... a7d0799e82

While police and firefighters were given a larger bandwidth and ­additional channels, coverage was so patchy that even they have back-up system devices such as portable transmission towers and VHS or satellite phones, Australian Paramedics Association president Steve Pearce said.

Ahah :?

Mike

astro_boy
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Re: Ambulance radio issues news article

Post by astro_boy » Tue May 09, 2017 9:45 am

Better off pasting the article, One thing i refuse to pay for is news online.

Air490
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Location: Port Macquarie

Re: Ambulance radio issues news article

Post by Air490 » Tue May 09, 2017 12:53 pm

I have pasted the article below (there are ways and means around the Daily Terrorgraph's paywall ;))
The article is a mish-mash of claims. NSWPF don't use GRN for routine comms, so I don't know how they are relevant. Albury is outside the GRN footprint, and James Kydd doesn't nominate the town the incident happened in, so it's a bit hard to judge that claim. It seems like the portables are the issue, but it's hard to tell with all the other wild claims in the article and inaccurate information in the article.

Paramedics struggle with outdated radio network black spots, which are putting patients at risk
LINDA SILMALIS, Chief reporter, The Sunday Telegraph
April 23, 2017 6:37am
Subscriber only
PARAMEDICS have been reduced to making emergency calls from hospital toilet cubicles and the landlines of ­patient homes, or waving down rescue helicopters, to overcome a failing ­ambulance radio network.

They fear the patchwork, flawed and faltering system could directly kill patients.

There have already been radio failures occurring during call-outs to two patients who died.

Ambulance officers warn patient safety is being compromised because of large areas of blind spots on their radio communication network.


The outdated portable radios often don’t work in certain areas due to bad reception. Picture: Toby Zerna
A list of blind spots compiled by angry NSW Ambulance staff includes large swaths of the state and even within Sydney itself.

Paramedics are demanding the State Government upgrade their communications system to match that of police and firefighters.

They want increased channels and bandwidth while boosting numbers of satellite phones.

Among the more bizarre black spots are major Sydney public hospitals such as Westmead, Bankstown and the ­Nepean, although some paramedics have found coverage in the Nepean’s staff triage toilet, where they can respond their control centre’s call-outs.

The situation has become so dire, one frustrated ambulance officer called to a motorbike crash in Putty in northwestern Sydney asked a headquarters dispatcher if he should use “smoke signals” from the scene to indicate if a rescue helicopter was required.

The incidents have all occurred after recent upgrades costing $10 million of the 15-year-old Government Radio Network, which paramedics rely on to contact other emergency services and their control centre.

Established in the early 1990s, the radio system was designed to allow the State’s police, firefighters, ambulance and other emergency services personnel to communicate on a dedicated and cost ­effective internal radio system.


The ambulance radios don’t work in scattered regions across the state. Picture: Gordon McComiskie
While police and firefighters were given a larger bandwidth and ­additional channels, coverage was so patchy that even they have back-up system devices such as portable transmission towers and VHS or satellite phones, Australian Paramedics Association president Steve Pearce said.

The ambulance service appears to have the worst communication issues of all the state’s emergency organisations despite a series of upgrades.

Mr Pearce the most recent upgrade a few months ago had made communication even worse.

“We have been lobbying for a couple of years now for an improved system, and they keep saying they are going to do a major upgrade,” he said.

“But they keep doing bandaid patch-ups that are making things worse.


Some paramedics have been forced to use the landlines phones from patient’s homes. Picture: Gordon McComiskie
“We are running around trying to find reception when we should be ­focused on the patient.”

Ambulances feature both a fixed and portable radio operating on the Government Radio Network, however paramedics say their portable radio ­requires a stronger signal to operate and results in a high failure rate.

Albury paramedic James Kydd, a southern NSW Association representative, revealed two failures of portable radios in recent weeks ­had involved patients who had died.

“We had two of our members ­attend to a man having a cardiac arrest in the middle of a town, yet they could not call out on their portable radio for back-up,” he said.

“One of the guys ran out to the car to try calling from the car radio, leaving his partner to do CPR by himself, which is not ideal. The man died. ­Patient safety was compromised.”

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Bigfella237
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Re: Ambulance radio issues news article

Post by Bigfella237 » Tue May 09, 2017 2:17 pm

Sounds to me like typical media sensationalism written by someone who obviously has zero technical knowledge about the subject.

I mean make up your bloody mind, are we complaining about the state government's GRN or the ambulance service's PMR network? This so-called "article" reads more like a rant to me and should be given the same credence.

Andrew

Mike Alpha
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Re: Ambulance radio issues news article

Post by Mike Alpha » Tue May 09, 2017 6:34 pm

astro_boy wrote:Better off pasting the article, One thing i refuse to pay for is news online.
When I posted that link it was viewable without an account. Don't know why it went back.

Mike

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