Control rooms are often described as the nerve centre of an organisation’s operations, and that is certainly the case at NWAS.

In the last few months and years, our ‘control rooms’ have been on a real journey. Until recently, our service lines operated quite separately as 111, 999 and PTS control. But we’ve made significant progress to bring the services closer together, as an integrated contact centre (ICC) team.

Our ICC team, of which there are almost 2,000 call handlers, includes staff who work across 999, 111 and patient transport service control. It also includes staff who work in our support centre which manages telephone calls relating to staffing issues, vehicle breakdowns, radio communication faults and the safeguarding of vulnerable adults and children amongst many other roles. As well as staff working in the Regional Operational Co-ordinating Centre (ROCC), or ”rock” as we call it, which gives a strategic overview of our emergency service across the region and constantly monitors this to ensure we’re all working together as one.

As the first point of contact most patients have with the ambulance service, our ICC colleagues are the reassuring voice at the end of the phone. From delivering life-saving instructions, signposting someone to the right care for their needs, or arranging transport to an important hospital appointment, they are there, helping people when they need it most.

Happy ‘International Control Room Week’ to all our heroes in headsets.