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The Service
Specialist Response - Co Responders
Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service and South Central Ambulance Service have been working in partnership to deliver a co-responder scheme in the county for a number of years. Over time, this dynamic and successful partnership has expanded its scope across the county with co-responders now operating from 18 fire stations.
Co-responders are firefighters trained in basic life support who respond to medical incidents in addition to an ambulance with firefighters drawn from the local community to respond in that community. Co-responders are, first and foremost, Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service employees with a priority to ensure fire stations maintain adequate operational cover. If sufficient firefighters are available to offer fire cover then a firefighter may crew the Co-responder Unit (CRU) for calls to the following medical emergencies:
Clinical evidence proves that patients in a life-threatening situation who receive this rapid intervention have better chances of survival.
The aim of co-responding is to have a suitably trained person at the scene of an incident, that is potentially life-threatening, within 8 minutes. Co-responders are, on the whole, located in areas where their presence will have maximum benefit.
Once a co-responder has been identified then training gets underway. This is provided by the ambulance service and consists of 2 days intensive first aid training. The bulk of this is based around resuscitation and defibrillation. Re-certification and refresher training is given every 6 months. The Hampshire co-responder team has also been instrumental in establishing the scheme in Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Buckinghamshire.
The co-responder is mobilised by the Ambulance Control Centre. They receive the 999 call and once the call type has been identified they decide whether a co-responder will be mobilised.
Mobilisation is done by calling the duty co-responder on an Ambulance Service supplied mobile phone. The duty co-responder takes the vehicle home which speeds up the response time. The duty co-responder must stay within the response area. The response area for the co-responder mirrors that of the fire station's fire ground. So, upon receipt of a call, they can simply jump into the vehicle and respond direct to the location of the call, as long as there are sufficient people available to crew the fire appliance.
View co-responder station information:
Co-responder vehicles are supplied by South Central Ambulance Service, with the exception of New Milton who have a sponsored vehicle supplied by the Williams Bridge motor dealership. Each vehicle is sign written with fire and ambulance logos, along with 'Co-Responder' signs. They also have blue lights and sirens. The vehicle carries comprehensive equipment including:
