Emergency services' scheme a success after Rotherham trial

A MONEY and life-saving scheme first trialled in Rotherham that has saved thousands of hours of police time has now been rolled out across the country.

South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue (SYFR) said it has attended more than 1,800 “medical break-in” incidents since July 2014 — when it became the first fire service in the country to take on this type of work.

The scheme involves firefighters breaking into the properties of people in need of urgent medical attention.

The work used to be carried out by police officers, so is helping to save thousands of hours of police time each year.

The scheme was the first of its kind in the country when it was first trialled in Rotherham in September 2014 and has now been adopted by other UK fire and rescue services.

This type of incident now comprises a growing element of fire service incident activity in South Yorkshire.

A SYFR spokesman said the arrangement was another example of the “valuable contribution” of the modern fire and rescue service, on top of the thousands of fires and other emergencies like road traffic collisions and water rescues the service attends.

Tony Carlin, SYFR’s head of emergency response, said: “We provide a first-class emergency response to the people of South Yorkshire, but the skills and equipment our firefighters have mean we can apply that service to more than just fires.

“This arrangement benefits everyone.

“For the police it helps them to concentrate their resources on other areas of work.

“For our firefighters, they get experience of a wider range of emergency incidents and get to apply their extensive training to an even wider set of situations.

“For patients themselves, it means they can receive they medical attention they need as efficiently as possible.”

South Yorkshire Police and Crime Commissioner Dr Alan Billings said: “All the emergency services are working together in South Yorkshire to make our resources go further and avoid duplication.

“It is saving a lot of police time which can be better spent on directly fighting crime.”

Last year the Government announced new proposals to transform the way the police, fire and rescue and ambulance services work together.

It wants to encourage collaboration by introducing a new statutory duty on all three emergency services to look at opportunities to work with one another better to improve efficiency and effectiveness.