News and Blog

International Control Room Week

NSW Health Share.

International Control Room Week is a week to specifically celebrate the unsung heroes of the emergency services, run by Hull technology firm APD Communications.

This is being held for the second time from October 21 to 27, and is supported by fire, ambulance, police, coastguard and airport staff across the country. The campaign week highlights the critical role played by the control room teams that keep people safe and deal with traumatic incidents daily.

Emergency service control rooms are often the heart of the service, providing an essential function that can go unrecognised. An effective control room needs the optimal staff mix and to manage resources dynamically using innovative technology. ORH supports emergency services around the world to operate more efficiently.

http://www.internationalcontrolroomweek.com/

The Talent Developing ORH’s Software

Our unique models are designed to help emergency services make difficult decisions in real time and plan for the future. To keep our software at the cutting edge, we have a small team of talented developers working hard to innovate and solve new problems. Tom has been working at ORH for the last six years developing, maintaining and supporting our software, which is used both externally by clients and internally by our consultants. His profile explores in more detail the interesting projects he’s been working on recently.

ACT Government Invests in Emergency Services Following ORH Review

The ACT Government in Australia has announced plans to deliver additional emergency service vehicles and stations based on the advice of ORH’s review of the Station Upgrade and Relocation Plan (SURP). ORH used projected changes to both population and road journey times to create 2028 demand scenarios for both the ambulance and fire services in Canberra. Our simulation and optimisation models were used to predict changes to operations and identify the number of vehicles and locations required by each service to maintain and improve emergency response standards in the future.

As a result, the ACT Government will now begin work on two new combined ambulance and fire stations, to be located in the City and Molonglo Valley. They will also recruit more firefighters and invest in a new aerial platform vehicle to improve their response capabilities to the growth in higher density and multi-storey buildings. Further details from the ACT Government can be found here.

Do Response Times Still Matter?

At the recent LGA Fire Conference in Brighton, ORH was very pleased to run a busy workshop session looking at response times and attendance standards for fire and rescue services. We presented innovative analysis on the increases in response times to fires in England and Wales, and the implications of these. To support our quantitative assessment, we were joined by Dave Etheridge (past president of CFOA) who offered his insights from an operational perspective. The full abstract from the workshop was as follows:

Over the past decade the number of incidents attended by UK fire services has fallen, yet it has coincided with an increase in average response times.  At a time when HMICFRS is asking services to demonstrate efficiency and effectiveness of service delivery, it’s essential that FRSs understand why it now takes longer to respond to fewer incidents.  In this workshop we will consider the effect this trend has on the fire service and the public, the factors that are driving it, and the strategies management has at its disposal to reverse it.

Using the most recent national data on incident statistics and response times, we will examine the relationships between key performance indicators and, more specifically, how longer response times can affect operational outcomes and society.  We believe that this new insight will promote lively discussion about the importance of response times, and how to quantify these through real time data analytics.  For comparison purposes, we will present analysis on trends for fire services internationally and on ambulance response times in the UK.  Finally, by using conclusions reached during the analysis, we will explore potential approaches for reducing response times, optimising coverage and, ultimately, reducing risk to the public.

If you would like to view the slides from the presentation, or have any questions about the issues raised, please contact Graham Holland (graham.h@orhltd.com).

ORH’s DCT Cited as Good Practice For Fire Services

Wales Audit Office has published a report on the maturity of local government in use of data. This report investigates the technology available to public sector organisations, the rate of technological change and the importance of data-driven decision making. The objective is to explore the extent to which local authorities in Wales are making use of these processes.

We are very pleased to see that ORH’s Dynamic Cover Tool (the DCT) is cited as an example of best practice by fire services, with particular reference to its application in London Fire Brigade (see page 47 of the report). The DCT helps to improve incident and risk coverage and ensures that resources are used as efficiently as possible. More details are available here.

ORH Presents 10-year Paramedic Services Plan to Wellington County Council

Guelph-Wellington Paramedic Service’s 10-year plan, developed by ORH, has been approved in principle by Wellington County Council following a presentation to councillors in May. In particular, the suggested relocation of the Hillsburgh station was supported by the City of Erin’s Mayor. The move, alongside increased staffing, will improve response times in the area significantly. The full plan recommends relocating four stations in the County and enhancing vehicle deployments by 588 ambulance hours per week. South Western Ontario’s news website covered the Council meeting; further details can be found here.

ORH’s Patient Transport Modelling Featured in the OR Society Magazine

Find out how ORH’s patient transport simulation modelling helped HealthShare NSW, Australia, in the latest edition of The OR Society’s Impact magazine. Software engineer Tom Boness and consultant Hannah Mayes from ORH discuss how a collaborative approach with HealthShare NSW enabled them to maximise efficiency across the state as they transitioned to a new model of patient transport. You can read the full article in the Spring 2018 edition, as featured on the publisher’s website.

Recommendations from Deloitte and ORH Independent Service Review of EEAST Published

ORH and Deloitte were commissioned to assess the operational and financial needs of the East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust. ORH used analysis and benchmarking to identify potential operational efficiencies, and simulation modelling to understand resourcing requirements and the trajectory to meeting national standards. Deloitte undertook financial modelling to identify other efficiencies and quantify the economic implications of different implementation scenarios. The review resulted in a number of recommendations, the identification of optimal resourcing profiles to re-roster the Trust, and a contracting framework to fund the service. For more information, please read the EEAST news release.

Ambulance Leadership Forum 2018

Our managing director, Chris Polden, will be presenting at the Ambulance Leadership Forum on Wednesday 21 March at 8:30 am.  Chris’s talk ‘A Decade of Change: The Capacity Challenge’ will draw on ORH’s experience of working with Ambulance Services in the UK for over 30 years. During this time there have been substantial changes both in the demands placed on Ambulance Services and how that demand is dealt with. The presentation will highlight some areas where capacity has been released within the ambulance service over the past decade and where some constraints to efficient ambulance operations have been introduced. We hope you can join Chris for an exciting insight into ambulance data.

ORH develop population tool for Sense

ORH collaborated with the charity Sense in 2017 to develop a tool for exploring data about the deafblind population in the UK. Sense supports people with sensory impairments or complex needs so they can enjoy more independent lives. The tool developed by ORH provides estimates of the population who have a combined sight and hearing impairment, from 2015 through to 2035, by area, age and gender. This information will enable Sense, together with local authorities and health administration areas, to better plan future services such as housing, resource centres and wellbeing programmes. ORH is proud to have completed this project as part of the Operational Research Society Pro-bono OR scheme.

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