Impact of new working styles on Ambulance workers

The increase of the use of ICT in ambulance services has revolutionised the working styles of ambulance workers because new systems have been introduced to replace crackly old ones that are more effective, time efficient, and trustworthy. This is because the systems are now installed with hi-tech software like satellite tracking, which provide centre staff with geographical information which can then be used to contact the ambulances closest to the location and result in a rapid response to the call, Geographical analysis is also being used so ambulances can be situated in locations in the stations allotted area so instead of ambulances waiting in the station for a call they are already out on the streets in a specific area waiting for a call to say there has been an accident in that area they are in therefore shortening the response times of ambulances and resulting in ambulance stations increasing there trust performance because they can get to the public alot quicker, also technology is being used to control roster systems (call-in) so the ambulance stations can be working with the exact numbers of staff required the whole time and make running shifts alot easier to control and record.

When the systems where fist implemented through out the UK there was a high level of distrust from the workers to the new system because they thought it was not ready for such a huge task, to be able to manage all the ambulances and causalities in an area, also they were not to confident in relying on a computer because they had been dong there jobs well before they introduced the computer systems and thought they didn't need a computer to tell them how to do their job. I can understand why they felt like this because for example the Geographical analysis systems used to place ambulances in the most efficient places possible would leave ambulance workers out in places where they didn't really know where they were and didn't understand how sitting in a random place decided by a computer and satellites would help them to get to a casualty quicker because they did not know the area well enough, a more sensible idea would be to fit the ambulances with satnav so they can be guided to the location from where they are without the need of putting in the address etc... it could all be controlled by the satellite and the staff back at the ambulance centre,therefore leaving the ambulance workers to get to the location and do what they do best. There were also other drawbacks with the systems like the system crashing and the backup system not being good enough to cope with the task because it had not been tested enough. Testing of the new systems was a big problem at first, they were far to eager to get there new amazing piece of technology to work before they were 100% certain that they knew it would work and that if it were to crash or fail/run out of memory etc... it could use a backup system well that would work and be able to carry out all the tasks that the primary system could, whilst trying to find solutions to the problems with the primary system and get it back up and running again. Trust was also a key point that they needed to work on before introducing the systems because the systems were put in with staff expecting them to fail and not be able to do what they had been assigned to do, workers should have been assured that the systems where there to help them do their jobs not do there jobs for them. The systems would obviously need some getting used to and tweaking but they should never of been introduced until they knew that all aspects of it were running perfectly or near perfect as a result workers were put off the idea of the new systems until the real potential of the systems started showing itself in the results of trust performance and other recorded ambulance efficiency figures.

Although there were problems with the new systems at first now they have had time to settle in and be fixed to make sure they can do the tasks they are given.They are now showing amazing results in ambulance stations across the UK and there has been an increased rivalry between stations to get the best statistics possible for there response times, cardiac survival figures, and many other figures for example the staffordshire ambulance service has been awarded seven years running the lead position in national ambulance tables.