Control centres

The East of England Ambulance Service has three Health and Emergency Operations Centres HEOCs), based in Bedford, Bedfordshire; Chelmsford, Essex; and Norwich, Norfolk. They serve as central locations to which all relevant 999 calls are directed.

Managers and staff in the HEOCs are responsible for looking after the deployment of a range of resources, such as ambulances, rapid response vehicles, emergency care practitioners (ECPs), ambulance managers, community first responders, and the Trust’s air ambulances. The management of resources is a very delicate and complicated process that continues 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

Clinical assessors take care of the incoming calls and assist both 999 patients and Out of Hours patients, playing a vital role in providing emergency life-saving instructions to callers while help is on the way. Clinical assessors and GPs also coordinate assistance for patients accessing Out of Hours care by arranging primary care centre appointments as well as home visits by GPs and ECPs.

Dispatchers look after ambulance resources, using a computer aided dispatch (CAD) system, which helps ensure that resources reach those with medical emergencies as quickly as possible, according to the urgency of the need in each individual case.

In Norwich the new HEOC was opened by HRH the Princess Royal in October 2005. It comprises emergency, non emergency, GP out of hours and NHS Direct control centres along with a major incident suite.