In the coming years, the Singapore Civil Defence Force
(SCDF) will start differentiating 995 calls based on the severity
of the patients' medical condition.
The new Emergency Medical Services (EMS)
Tiered-Response framework announced at the SCDF workplan seminar on
Wednesday (May 3) will mean that the scale of SCDF resources and
response speeds will be matched to the seriousness of each call,
prioritising more severe cases over less serious ones.
Critically ill patients or those in life-threatening
situations, such as people suffering from heart attacks or severe
burns, will be prioritised and receive swifter and more enhanced
medical services, compared with minor and non-threatening
cases.
Previously, EMS responses were based on a single-tier
system where SCDF responded to all emergency medical and trauma
cases on a first-come, first-served basis within the standard 11
minutes.
The new framework comes as the SCDF copes with the
surging number of EMS calls. Every year, emergency calls have
increased by about 6 per cent. In 2016, the force handled close to
180,000 such calls - about 500 a day.
Of the calls last year, almost 19,000 were false alarms
and for non-urgent ailments like constipation and chronic
cough.
"This is too high and is putting a strain on
resources," said Minister for Home Affairs K. Shanmugam, the guest
of honour at the event.
"Every non-emergency case we attend to takes away our
ability to respond to another critical case immediately."
While the force has boosted the number of ambulances,
paramedics and emergency medical technicians to deal with the
rising demand, it is not a sustainable solution and the number of
calls will only rise as Singapore faces an ageing population, said
Mr Shanmugam.
The first phase of the Tiered-Response framework
started on April 1 this year. SCDF staff manning the 995 call
centre began conducting better telephone medical triaging, where
calls are classified according to severity.
The force has also trained fire and rescue specialists
who also double up as emergency medical technicians. This group of
230 are equipped with medical bags and able to respond to emergency
calls on fire bikes which are easier to navigate on.
Later this month, SCDF will be introducing new Fire
Medical Vehicles (FMVs) which come with fire and rescue
capabilities and can also function as an ambulance.
SCDF's new Fire Medical Vehicle. ST PHOTO:
MARK CHEONG
SCDF's new Rapid Response Fire Vessel. ST
PHOTO: MARK CHEONG
To encourage community engagement and to complement the
SGSecure movement, the SCDF will partner the Ministry of Health
later this year to train at least 300 residents from each
constituency with life-saving skills through the Dispatcher
Assisted First Responder (Dare) programme Plus.
The hour-long training programme teaches participants
to perform cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and use an automated
external defibrillator (AED).
Under a pilot phase launched in 2015, more than 2,000
residents from six constituencies have already been trained in the
Dare programme.
ST