Disturbing 999 call in Cork

SpaceTime

I think it needs to be handled by regional call centres with local knowledge.

At the very least you should have something like a centre in each of the telephone directory areas i.e. 01, 02, 06, 07 and 09.
04 is complicated because part of it is South of Wicklow and part is North of Dublin. Might make more sense to have those calls answered by different centres, but the rest make logical sense.

It should be possible for the mobile networks to identify roughly where the call's coming from too.

What happens if you're driving along the motorway or you're a tourist and you don't actually know which county you're in?
That's quite possible!

drill

compo1 wrote: »

Much of the problem with the despatch of ambulance/fire brigade seems to lie with the call centre; are the staff properly trained? Several years ago, there was local control; i.e.; Cork Ambulance Control. Somebody gone into the river by the Shakey Bridge? Guy at the other end knows exactly where you mean. Now, it's "What county's that in?" (seriously!); "Is that a town or farmland?" (no kidding!) PLEASE bring back local emergency services control.
Also, the situation in Midleton over a year ago when a child died after a fall from a window, "there was no ambulance available". More recently is the claim that the guy on the other end didn't consider it serious enough to send an ambulance. Later again, the word went out that the guy who took the call was "inexperienced".
Get back to local control and employ people with some knowledge of emergency procedures, particularly in ability to ask the right questions and assess the situation.
I don't want to insult people working in call centres. The people involved might be great if you're ringing about your misbehaving new TV or whatever, but professional emergency staff are needed in these places.
Example; recently, I noticed a load of loose horse running wildly around the main road in my area, so I phoned the emergency number, intending that the Gardai, being charged with traffic control (among MANY other things) would do whatever was required to get them to a safe place away from the roads.
Interesting call!
"What service do you require?"
"Gardai"
"Where are ya?"
I replied correctly, giving the area.
"What county?"
"Cork city"
"That out in the country?"(!!)
"City suburbs"
All this time, somebody in the background was discussing the despatch of an ambulance to...........................Ballinasloe!
Finally, I hear a dial tone, followed quickly by a disembodied voice reading back my phone number. (Big Brother IS watching)
"Morning. Anglesea Street Garda station. Traffic control!" Very businesslike Garda voice.
I told him, explaining that the loose horses could be a danger to traffic.
"Right! Thanks! We'll have someone up there in two minutes."
Fortunately, my call was by no means a life-or-death situation, but what if it had been? Valuable time would have been lost, with possibly tragic consequences. When I finally did get to speak to a relevant person, the matter was dealt with very quickly. Twenty minutes later, there wasn't a nag to be seen!

In relation to "the situation in Midelton" this call was handled by what you call a "local control " as for your reference to "inexperienced" again you need to check your facts

In relation to your call to Anglesea St Garda you were asks questions by an ECAS call handler .

You say at the start of your post much of
The problem with dispatch lies with control centre staff.

So is it Garda control , fire control, ambulance control or ECAS staff ? That the problem lies with?

pwurple

SpaceTime wrote: »

What happens if you're driving along the motorway or you're a tourist and you don't actually know which county you're in?
That's quite possible!

What happens if you are driving along the motorway and you are not a tourist? "I'm just after exit 15 on the M12 heading south". You don't need to know the county at all in that situation. National would make much more sense there than regional.

compo1

drill wrote: »

In relation to "the situation in Midelton" this call was handled by what you call a "local control " as for your reference to "inexperienced" again you need to check your facts

In relation to your call to Anglesea St Garda you were asks questions by an ECAS call handler .

You say at the start of your post much of
The problem with dispatch lies with control centre staff.

So is it Garda control , fire control, ambulance control or ECAS staff ? That the problem lies with?

(1) Call Centre; not control centre.
(2) Only reporting the explanations given at the time.

There is no longer a Cork Ambulance Control.

Bang Bang

compo1 wrote: »

(1) Call Centre; not control centre.
(2) Only reporting the explanations given at the time.

There is no longer a Cork Ambulance Control.

There is a Cork Ambulance Control, it is based in Dublin however it is a dedicated Cork desk with Cork natives working in that control centre, so local knowledge is still at hand.

Old diesel

Bang Bang wrote: »

There is a Cork Ambulance Control, it is based in Dublin however it is a dedicated Cork desk with Cork natives working in that control centre, so local knowledge is still at hand.

Good to know

Bang Bang

I should add that the Cork desk also controls Kerry, again local knowledge is at hand.

Old diesel

Bang Bang wrote: »

I should add that the Cork desk also controls Kerry, again local knowledge is at hand.

While the Ambulance Service does have its faults in terms of lack of resources etc - I think IT should be doing more to explain about the positive things that happen within it.

For example - the only reason I have some understanding of things like Advanced Paramedics is because I read up on it a bit.

For sure im no expert on these things - but if I was relying on Joe Duffy/the media etc - id probably still thing we were still in the days of "Ambulance Drivers and Nurses" and the older version of the "EMT" grade that was bought out in the mid 90s.

Theres always room for improvement though - and I think expanding the WCRR and ECRR Pre hospital doctor idea - and making it a paid for by HSE/State service rather then voluntary - would be a great asset.

It all takes time though - but in fairness - in things like training - the Ambulance service seems to have made great strides in the last 9 or 10 years.

drill

compo1 wrote: »

(1) Call Centre; not control centre.
(2) Only reporting the explanations given at the time.

There is no longer a Cork Ambulance Control.

(1) ok miss quote !
(2) reported by who ?

As bang bang has stated there still is a Cork Ambulance Control its just in Dublin, you mentioned the Middleton Incident which was handled by "locals" as Cork Ambulance Control was still based in Cork City at the time

compo1

drill wrote: »

(1) ok miss quote !
(2) reported by who ?

As bang bang has stated there still is a Cork Ambulance Control its just in Dublin, you mentioned the Middleton Incident which was handled by "locals" as Cork Ambulance Control was still based in Cork City at the time

Reported by local media (Evening Echo AFAIR).
Regarding Ambulance Control; I was told by a public service employee that it was the Limerick call centre that handled it. In any case, location wasn't the problem in the Midleton incident.
I've got great respect for the emergency services and I don't envy people fielding phone calls from panicked/distressed people needing help in a hurry, but I can't help thinking it's underfunded and the problems that come to light at times have a lot to do with the perceived need to cut costs. ("Do more with less" as a government minister said recently)

lighterman

compo1 wrote: »

Reported by local media (Evening Echo AFAIR).
Regarding Ambulance Control; I was told by a public service employee that it was the Limerick call centre that handled it. In any case, location wasn't the problem in the Midleton incident.
I've got great respect for the emergency services and I don't envy people fielding phone calls from panicked/distressed people needing help in a hurry, but I can't help thinking it's underfunded and the problems that come to light at times have a lot to do with the perceived need to cut costs. ("Do more with less" as a government minister said recently)

To clarify ambulance covered by Dublin and fire by Limerick

stevie06

Bang Bang wrote: »

I should add that the Cork desk also controls Kerry, again local knowledge is at hand.

Not so much anymore.... Only one local controller works there now....

dave1982

Body has been recovered today.

Our search of the river Lee concluded today when members of CCMPSAR and Mallow Search and Rescue located and recovered the body of the person we had been searching for the past 27 days, Cork City Fire Service also assisted with the recovery.
Thank you to all who assisted in the search.

Blackbolt191

dave1982 wrote: »

Body has been recovered today.

Body of missing man recovered from Cork river

Tuesday, February 05, 2013

The body of a man who had been missing for almost a month was recovered from the River Lee in Cork yesterday.

The body of William Horgan surfaced at about 11am in the Port of Cork’s main shipping channel, close to Horgan’s Quay.

Firefighters were called to the scene and they recovered the body a short while later.

The remains were subsequently identified as those of Mr Horgan, aged 59.

He had been missing from his home at Crone’s Lane, off Tower St, since Jan 12.

The body was removed from the scene to Cork University Hospital for an autopsy to establish the exact cause of death.

A garda spokesman said at this stage, they do not believe the death to be suspicious.

Gardaí at Barrack St had issue several public appeals for help in tracing Mr Horgan.

The Mallow Search and Rescue Unit was called in last week to conduct searches of the Lee using its side-scanning sonar device.

They were joined in recent days by members of the Missing Person’s Search and Recovery association, Cork Civil Defence, North Cork Civil Defence, and the naval diving unit.

Gardaí at Mayfield are investigating the death and are preparing a file for the coroner’s court.

This story appeared in the printed version of the Irish Examiner Tuesday, February 05, 2013

Five Lamps

I had to recently call 112 after witnessing a road collision outside of Adare. On answering the call, the operator immediately stated my number and that I was calling from Co. Limerick and what services were required. After that I gave my location. As other people were in attendance I moved on and within minutes met emergency services en route.

The big problem in Ireland is not actually a lack of post codes but a lack of proper and logical addressing. We have far too many vanity addresses that are confusing to find and describe even in non-emergency situations. Unfortunately both An Post on local authorities allowed these to happen. Every address in Ireland should be down to 3 lines max - 1 Your street, Your Townland, Your County.

SpaceTime

I agree, our addressing is a bit of a joke in most cases.

We've a huge problem with non-uinique addresses which will be resolved with postal codes when someone's aware of the address, but in cases where you've got to call the emergency services to a location you're unfamiliar with the addressing and signage is awful.

In a lot of urban areas the street signs are hard to see / not visible easily and in rural areas, the road number isn't displayed very often, making it really hard to know where you are.

A lot of rural addresses are "House name" + town land which isn't very helpful without access to an addressing database that links to a map (assuming the house is even on the database or that there aren't several alternative spellings).

In urban areas, way too many homes are using names instead of numbers too. There's a huge scourge of it here in Cork City. Dense, 1950s urban housing that looks like it would have had numbering when built is now all listed as house names. Even on Google maps the house names are showing up.

While it's all very romantic to have a name on a house, if you're trying to locate it on a street with 200+ houses, it's not easy to find as there's no order logic to the names, where as you can just count along the numbers.

Also, you've an issue where small apartment complexes and office units often have a name instead of a number.

"Enterprise House"
Ballybackwards Street
Dublin 8.

Instead of:

"Enterprise House"
123 Ballybackwards Street
Dublin 8

(This is also common in England)

If we used US-style block numbering (which actually doesn't require blocks in a grid sense, just leaves loads of room for extra numbers and fill in housing as it happens) it would make a lot of sense.

So you'd have:

1001, 1002, 1003 on the first bit, and 2001,2002,2003 on the second bit and so on.