Please do not see this as me having a go, I’m just want to know how we can overcome this, it annoys me turning up to a casualty who has been there suffering for hours needlessly or worse yet dead because the wrong asset was deployed.
Rasyob,
I think everyone of whatever outfit would agree with this - we're all on the same side, and all of us are familiar with the frustration of a casualty being compromised because the wrong (or less appropriate) asset was sent. Unless anyone has any better ideas, the best way to progress the issue is to liaise closely with the local Ambulance Control, to give them the best chance of understanding what the various types of helicopter (ie SAR, Air Amb, Police) bring to the party. It is also worth taking every opportunity to remind the emergency services control room staff that they won't be charged for requesting SAR to do a rescue - this myth still lives on (perpetuated by at least one Air Amb operator I could name - wonder why they'd do that?!), and it still causes delays in SAR being used - only time and patience will allow us to convince the relevant people that SAR can be a vital and free asset at many types of incident. Leconfield have been notably successful in spreading the message at training days with control room staff of their various local emergency services, and the amount of tasking they have received has rocketed this year as a direct result.
TOTD