Staff Profiles

As Managing Director Chris is responsible for overseeing all ORH projects, ensuring that they run to schedule and are of a consistently high standard. During his time as a Senior Consultant Chris gained extensive project management experience across a wide range of studies, varying in both size and sector, which considerably broadened his knowledge base. Prior to that, and in his role as Consultant, Chris was heavily involved in data analysis and modelling of the provision of emergency services, focusing particularly on emergency ambulance cover. Chris’s experience at ORH includes:

• Managing emergency and non-emergency service reviews
• Reviewing response strategies for both national and local ambulance services
• Developing new operational models for ambulance service delivery
• Specifying developments to ORH’s suite of simulation and optimisation programs, the tools which underpin this work

James has been involved in a range of data analysis and modelling reviews for emergency services, with particular emphasis on contact management. He has lead appraisals of emergency and non-emergency control rooms both in the UK, and overseas.

He works closely with clients to understand their requirements, tailor the use of ORH’s simulation and optimisation software and communicate results to audiences of all levels. James also plays a key role in the development of ORH’s Dynamic Cover Tool (DCT).

James first gained experience in advanced analytical techniques and mathematical modelling through his master’s degree, where he carried out client project work for Virgin Atlantic’s Strategy and Analytics division.

James’s experience at ORH includes:

• Optimising the configuration and staffing within emergency operations centres to achieve call answering KPIs, reduce dispatch times and improve secondary triage rates
• Benchmarking service provision, establishing areas for improvement and appraising operational efficiencies
• Modelling the impacts of demand growth, changing standards, and operational changes across ambulance, police and fire services.
• Training ambulance and fire service staff in using ORH’s DCT and AmbSim software

Since joining ORH in 2013 Tom has been developing and supporting simulation models and other software tools used by ORH’s consultants and clients. In recent years he has been responsible for engineering and implementing ORH’s cloud-based applications.

In his previous employment Tom was part of a small team developing medical audit software for use in GP practices in the UK. This provided him with experience of developing fast algorithms and easily deployable software with a clear user interface.

Tom has an academic background in theoretical physics and numerical modelling. This forms a solid foundation for his work on the mathematical models used by ORH.

Tom’s experience at ORH includes:

• Architecting new cloud-based solutions and migrating legacy applications to the cloud
• Researching and enhancing the algorithms that power ORH’s simulation models for ambulance and fire services and non-emergency patient transport providers
• Working with ORH consultants and clients to elicit requirements for applications and tools
• Deploying reliable applications for clients and assisting with user training and support

After completing his degree in graphic design Ryan worked in a number of GIS positions, evolving from a focus on visual presentation of information into data management and process improvement, building user portals, interfaces, and systems to help integrate different applications. By the time he joined ORH in 2022, he had become an expert user of the two leading GIS platforms ArcGIS and MapInfo with fluency in SQL and MapBASIC languages, and a strong understanding of spatial data analysis requirements.

At ORH, Ryan works in process improvement automating GIS tasks in MapBASIC to increase the efficiency of core project procedures and reduce the potential for human error. He has built tools to that create networks and nodesets for projects, manage incident data, help with facility planning and produce maps that are visually appealing, easy to parse and consistent with ORH’s corporate style.

So far Ryan has developed the following at ORH:

• FACBAT, a tool for batching facilities and population data ready for linking into travel time matrices for use in the Facility Planning Model (FPM) used by SportsEngland.
• NETFIX, a program that converts raw highway data into ORH network tables that are used to produce journeys between stations and incidents.
• AGG, a tool for turning project areas into a dot matrix of nodes, integral for modelling
• MERV, a tool which assigns incident data to locations in these nodesets, helping with the understanding of demand
• LOCI, a tool for creating SiteSearch plans; heatmap-style visuals that indicate prime locations for new fire or ambulance stations to sustain and improve coverage
• BASER, a tool for automatically producing a base plan for use in reports to a consistent corporate standard

Diane has a long association with ORH, having joined the company as a part-time admin assistant in 1996. Her role has expanded over the intervening years into the office manager position where she oversees the day-to-day running of the office, keeps the accounts for the company and provides support to both the managing director and ORH’s growing team of consultants and analysts.

Proof-reading and editing are one of her competencies which Diane particularly enjoys, and this is put to good use during the reporting stages of most ORH projects.

When not at work, Diane loves the outdoor life and spends much of her free time riding her horse in forestry land on the Berkshire/Hampshire border. Cryptic crosswords, jigsaw puzzles and reading are other favourite past times, and she is also an avid follower of Formula 1.

Since joining ORH Andrew has been involved in a range of consultancy projects for emergency services, both in the UK and overseas. These have included asset management strategies and demand and capacity reviews, from undertaking analysis and modelling to engaging with stakeholders and presenting outcomes. Andrew has also been involved in ORH’s modelling of sports facility provision.

Andrew’s experience at ORH includes:

• Modelling changes to ambulance call categorisations and standards driven by the Ambulance Response Programme (ARP), plus Integrated Care System (ICS) impacts on ambulance service operations
• Devising resourcing profiles required to meet projected future demand
• Optimising station locations to improve emergency response cover using ORH’s bespoke optimisation software
• Modelling the provision of sports facilities at national and local level

Graham is an experienced emergency services planner, responsible for managing projects for fire and rescue services. He also played a key role in the development of ORH’s Dynamic Cover Tool (DCT) software.

On joining ORH, Graham initially concentrated on the application of GIS software. He has since built considerable skill in analysis, modelling and consultancy, with a particular focus on fire and rescue services. In recent years Graham has used this experience to manage a wide range of projects for fire service clients around the world, including services in the UK, Sweden, Australia, Canada and the US.

Graham’s experience at ORH includes:

• Working with national fire service bodies to inform strategy and policy
• Determining efficiency savings while maintaining appropriate levels of response and risk cover
• Modelling alternative response strategies for fire services, such as co-responding to medical emergencies and low acuity vehicles
• Presenting at fire service conferences in the US, Sweden, New Zealand and the UK

Prior to joining ORH in 2005 Gill spent seven years as a business systems analyst, developing strong skills in both data and systems analysis and becoming proficient in software programs including VBA, SQL, Lotus Script and Microsoft Office.
In her role at ORH, Gill supports consultancy projects for emergency services by managing and analysing CAD data. She regularly takes the leading role in ORH’s analysis of ambulance services, both in the UK and overseas. In addition, Gill is responsible for maintaining a key strategic tool for assessing the provision of sports facilities across the UK.

Gill’s experience at ORH includes:

• Carrying out detailed analysis of ambulance CAD workload data and resource data for clients
• Providing analytical support to facility access and patient to hospital allocation studies
• Modelling the provision of sports facilities at national and local level
• Developing and maintaining in-house and external software tools, drawing on her background in business system analysis and software development

Jon is an experienced emergency services planner, responsible for managing ORH projects for emergency services in the UK and around the world. Jon also plays a key role in the development of ORH’s simulation model, AmbSim, for emergency medical services.

On joining ORH, Jon initially focused on data analysis and simulation modelling of emergency medical services, before taking on a consulting and project managing role.

Jon’s experience at ORH includes:

• Project management for clients around the world, including services in Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the Middle East
• Simulation modelling and optimisation of all elements of emergency medical services, from call taking and dispatch to the deployment of emergency vehicles
• Provision of planning tools and modelling support, including training for service planning staff

Rebecca manages ORH’s work for Sport England and Sport Scotland in supporting the delivery of the Facilities Planning Model (FPM). This involves engaging with stakeholders in local authorities, working with the latest population projections and modelling sports facility provision.

Rebecca has experience in working with sport national governing bodies (NGBs) and turning their requirements into a scope. She is experienced in applying ORH’s optimisation model, OGRE, to help planners at sports bodies make difficult decisions about facility investment priorities based on public access and participation.

Rebecca has used her skills in cartography and GIS to develop ORH’s use of road networks and routing software in the formation of travel time matrices. She has also used public transport travel times to provide a more accurate picture of access to vaccination centres in London when compared to drive times.

To deliver projects for sports bodies, Rebecca has developed the following processes from a variety of large datasets:

• Demand for different sports calculated from Sports England’s Active Lives survey and the Scottish Health survey from analysis of participation and frequency trends.
• Sport user profiles, based on sex, age and car ownership data from the Office of National Statistics (ONS) data and deprivation from the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities index.
• Parameters for facilities from centre-based surveys of users, such as the National Benchmark Service and Moving Communities (Sport England), for travel times, activity durations, and facility usage by time of day.
• Bespoke geographical population distributions from local authority housing allocations with proposed access roads.

Prior to joining ORH, Jack used the Rural Payment Agency’s bespoke GIS software to evaluate subsidy payments owed to agricultural landowners.

From GIS and data analysis to simulation and optimisation modelling, Jack has been involved in a range of projects for both UK and overseas emergency services since joining ORH in 2018. He has also completed key strategic planning work for UK sports councils.

Jack’s experience at ORH includes:

• Detailed analysis of emergency service CAD workload data, demand projections and GIS analysis
• Optimising station locations to improve emergency response cover using ORH’s bespoke optimisation software
• Simulation modelling of emergency services, including call taking, dispatch and resource deployment, to identify required staffing levels
• Modelling the provision of sports facilities at national and local levels