Broadband  |  2024-08-20

Panasonic Toughbook Selected For Major Ambulance Technology Refresh Across England & Wales

Curated by: Gert Jan Wolf - Editor-in Chief for The Critical Communications Review

As part of the nationwide Ambulance Radio Programme (ARP), Ambulance Service Trusts across England and Wales are undergoing a significant technology refresh to increase efficiency and enhance patient safety. Panasonic TOUGHBOOK is working with long-standing critical technology partners Centerprise, Terrafix, and Telent to provide its latest rugged mobile devices to all rapid response and dual crewed ambulances.

The ARP will enable all 12 NHS Ambulance Service Trusts, serving 50 million people, to seamlessly coordinate with updated control room solutions to improve the efficiency and delivery of its service. The ARP delivers crucial technology solutions across the UK, such as patient transportation applications, to ensure effective and critical communications between Ambulance Service Trusts, the NHS, and other frontline emergency responders.

As part of the ARP initiative, Panasonic and its partners is providing a standardised, yet flexible solution to be deployed nationally. With a variety of vehicles, models and dashboard designs, each deployment will be customised to meet individual Trusts’ needs. Using Panasonic TOUGHBOOK devices running on Windows enables additional functionalities and applications to be easily developed as these requirements change.

Panasonic TOUGHBOOK devices will enable ambulance crews to access the most up-to-date and detailed mapping of England and Wales’s rural and urban areas, through the National Mobilisation Application, developed by Terrafix. This software can be updated remotely, minimising ambulance downtime.

The initiative has already seen over 4,000 new installations of Panasonic TOUGHBOOK devices in ambulance service vehicles across England and Wales.