NSW Ambulance seeking decision support system

NSW Ambulance is going to market for a real time decision support system, to assist the dispatch and resourcing decisions currently made solely by humans.

The agency operates 220 ambulance stations in NSW, including 18 paramedic response points, and its tender documents explain key decisions are made “based on the judgement of the dispatcher, and the tactician in the Sydney control centre … based on their knowledge (including legal requirements) and previous experience.”

As well as improving emergency response times, the tender explained, NSW Ambulance wants better support for crews.

The system would need to balance “response schedule requirements with human resource priorities such as mandatory meal/rest breaks taken within time periods, and ensuring officers are returned to their home stations for the end of their rostered shifts.”

The tender also envisages the decision support system helping prevent overflow of “non-emergency transport services that do not require a paramedic resource”.

Replacing static documents

The key support currently provided to the tactician comes from system status management plans, which the tender describes as “static and difficult to amend”.

The need for a real time decision support capability was created by reforms initiated last decade as the Sydney Ambulance Metropolitan Infrastructure Strategy (SAMIS), which among other things created the Paramedic Response Network (PRN), which was funded in 2018.

To support the PRN, NSW Ambulance wants a system that will integrate with its dispatch system, InformCAD, “to enable the efficient deployment of emergency response vehicles and resources as required,” based on historical and real time data “to improve the movement of crews and response times.”