Providing first-response emergency medical care in the Stourdene region of South Warwickshire
in partnership with West Midlands Ambulance Service

Registered Charity No. 1140022

  
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What We Do

Government and NHS Guidelines stipulate that a person in difficulty suffering from a heart attack, stroke etc should be stabilized within 8 minutes for any chance of survival and that in doing so this person will have an 80% chance of survival if stabilised within 2 minutes. However for every minute past that 2 minute time the person's chance of survival drops 10% per minute.  

 
The first response team are volunteers from the village and have been trained by West Midlands Ambulance Service to deal with medical emergencies that are deemed immediately life threatening. The volunteers are trained to National Ambulance Standards (IHCD First Person on Scene and assessed every 6 months) and are trained to use an Automated Defibrillator, a machine that can deliver a potentially life saving shock to a patient in cardiac arrest.  In addition they are trained in the use of oxygen/airway therapy and basic life support skills.

Community First Responders are primarily called to attend "Category A" emergency calls, these are 999 calls which the West Midlands Ambulance Service deem to be "Serious and/or life threatening" and therefore by their very nature need medical help to arrive as quickly as possible, usually within the first 8 minutes from the 999 call being made.

These types of calls are classed as medical emergencies, and can happen both at home, work or in public places. First Responders are never intentionally called to emergencies involving severe trauma cases such as road traffic accidents.

"Category A" calls are usually where the patient is suffering from some the following illnesseses or symptoms:-

  • Cardiac arrest
  • Unconscious and collapsed patients
  • Chest pains (e.g. heart attacks and acute angina)
  • Breathing difficulties (e.g. asthma, acute on-set bronchitis/emphysema)
  • Diabetic emergencies (e.g. hypoglycemia)
  • Fitting or convulsions (e.g. epilepsy)
  • Stroke (CVA)
  • Anaphylaxis (allergic reaction)
  • Choking patients

Eventually we hope to be able to provide 24 x 7 cover. On receipt of high-priority emergency call from Ettington, the ambulance operations centre will despatch an ambulance crew (as normal) and will also alert the duty (on-call) First Responder in Ettington at the same time.

All responders are deployed by West Midlands Ambulance Service and operate under their instructions. All responders are CRB checked.

You can find out more about the West Midlands Ambulance Service CFR Scheme at: www.wmas.nhs.uk/AtYourService/CommunityFirstResponders/tabid/66/Default.aspx