Disturbing 999 call in Cork

mitosis wrote: »

When did this happen? There is nothing on the news about a drowning in Cork.

Phibsboro wrote: »

I can't find anything in any of the papers/news sites about this. Is this supposed to have happened in the recent flooding?

dave1982 wrote: »

http://www.thejournal.ie/search-man-rive-lee-cork-1307510-Feb2014/

I woke up at approx 07:45 on Sunday morning to the sound of a helicopter flying over my house. I suspected that it was the Coast Guard so i switched on my laptop and went to http://www.marinetraffic.com/en/

I spotted the helicopter on it and then tracked it to discover that it had been searching up and down the River Lee most of Sunday morning after been dispatched from Waterford at 05:30.

Of course i switched on the RTE Radio 1 08:00 News and there was no mention of an incident, neither was there on any other subsequent hourly news reports.
But then of course we are used to this carry on down here, God knows if it was in The Capital it would have been on the news as soon as the helicopter was airborne out of Dublin airport.

What i suspect about this whole incident are the words 'cut backs'. I have a good friend in Cork City Fire Brigade and I remember him telling me years ago that if someone picked up a phone as a prank and announced the there was a Fire on Main Street, that every Fire service that had a Main Street in that call takers area would have to be dispatched.
Obviously now the accountants are in charge.

Locust wrote: »

Sorry i don't know if this was mentioned already - too tired to read all posts....

Caller - i dunno where we are
Me - Do you have an Iphone
Caller - yeah
Me - Go to the compass app..
Caller - ok
Me - Read me out the grid cooridinates on the bottom there
I type that into google maps I know where you are - boom

Worked for me loads of times
Handy as a lot of people have iphones etc... im sure other phones have similar feature.

You're obviously more on the ball than some people. I left the GPS coordinates of our front gate in my parents house, due to the fact that someone there was ill, and it's a pita to find. At one point they did have to call an ambulance - they offered the GPS coordinates to the call taker, who said they didn't know what to do with.

But yes, if you had been taking the call, the caller may have been less upset, but the final outcome may not have changed.

ComReg are responsible for 112/999. They outsourced the actual call taking, but it comes under their remit.

kub wrote: »

...

I spotted the helicopter on it and then tracked it to discover that it had been searching up and down the River Lee most of Sunday morning after been dispatched from Waterford at 05:30.

Of course i switched on the RTE Radio 1 08:00 News and there was no mention of an incident, neither was there on any other subsequent hourly news reports.
But then of course we are used to this carry on down here, God knows if it was in The Capital it would have been on the news as soon as the helicopter was airborne out of Dublin airport.

This story still hasn't been mentioned by Examiner, Irish Times or RTE (that I can find). Was anyone actually reported missing? I assume a body hasn't been found as that would definitely have made the news.

Locust wrote: »

Worked for me loads of times
Handy as a lot of people have iphones etc... im sure other phones have similar feature.

2 problems with this.

1: You're taking for granted that ECAS (Emergency Call Answering Service) have access to Google Maps.

2: The government spent a lot of money on Tetra for the Gardaí and it will be rolled out to Ambulance and Fire Service (eventually). It uses a very different grid reference to Google Maps. Google Maps references on the Tetra mapping will bring you to Germany.

Phibsboro wrote: »

This story still hasn't been mentioned by Examiner, Irish Times or RTE (that I can find). Was anyone actually reported missing? I assume a body hasn't been found as that would definitely have made the news.

Agencies involved in search and rescue/recovery will not involve the media unless it is beneficial to the search. A search is active in the area at present and will continue for a number of weeks or until a recovery is made.

There are a number of valid reasons for not involving media with the numerous incidents that occur around our coasts and rivers every day. The lack of media in this specific case is not unique to Cork.

Thoie wrote: »

You may want to refer to ComReg's statutory responsibilities in the Communications Regulation Act. Let me know once you've educated yourself.

If you had been arsed reading the thread properly, you would have found that I was defending the call taker, though I appreciate the caller's heightened emotions. People calling 112 are often severely stressed.

A 112 service was provided by BT as appointed by ComReg and they directed the call to a service, ambulance or fire, he didn't specify. Duty discharged.

Any problem the caller has is with the HSE (NAS) or CAMP South or whatever they call themselves now.

My point is ComReg is about the infrastructure and the systems of connecting you with the Emergency Service, not the quality of the service you receive from that emergency service.

When a 112 call is made it is answered in one of three centres (BT)and they ask what service you require and where you are, specifically, what county or city, not exact location. They then pass that call to the relevant call centre. That is ComRegs statutory service completed.

Bog standard GPS installed in ambulances would cause more problems than it would solve, there is no time for data entry by ambulance personel not to mention meeting time targets for mobile to scenes ect.


Anything less than a red line coming up on a dash/tablet directing personel to a scene would be short change IMO.....
I would rather that a call taker spends the extra few seconds or minutes to ensure that the address/area is right as that time is easily lost on the road....... some times finding a place to turn back or do a U-turn takes a couple of minutes alone and can feel like an age in a situation like being discussed....


BTW... local control centres do get it wrong also on occasions, believe me ....

Yes I'm perfectly serious why would I joke about this on this thread?.......A 20 minutes response would be a luxury response to most calls I attend.


I'd say you are one of these 'one size fits all' pundits from your reply.
'What works in Birr will work in Ballymun'


As a paramedic the least I expect short of taking the call 'myself' is either accurate directions or a flawless system ......not a quick cheap fix.


I need to know where i'm going when leaving the base.... sometimes down to as simple as left or right at the gate will do, I endevor to leave within 90 seconds........that's a HIQA guideline by the way.
Give me a city region or at worst a land mark or estate and I would then expect a good update within 3-4 minutes of dispatch Re condition of patient and updated directions to call....... most controllers are good at this .


As I said .. anything less than a red line coming up on a dash/tablet directing personel to a scene would be short change IMO.

I'm glad that you are content with what your service has provided paulx.....


but better than nothing just keeps us going around in rings, i'll hold out for the gold standard...

"At the end of the day the job has to be done. We can only do it to the best of our ability"


My primary role is clinical, almost 100% of my training and upskilling is patient focused.


There is a system built into almost every emergency service all over the world (refered to as control) which is dedicated to....


A, Taking the correct information and address of the emergency &
B, Dispatching an appropriate response to that address/scene.


This system employs several grades, costs a small fortune to run and has been seen by many over the year as a promotion within services..


I stress that their primary role to ensure that the correct response gets to the correct address ........but you are content with a cheap sat nav and a map and off ya go......
Ah but sure your local knowledge will get ya there or let down the window and ask someone, pass the field with the white horse, or sound the siren there maybe they will come out to ya....


As it stands I do not fully have confidence in the system that is there or being proposed by a cheap nav.....I think we and the public deserve better ....maybe that's just me

crackcrack30 wrote: »

"At the end of the day the job has to be done. We can only do it to the best of our ability"


My primary role is clinical, almost 100% of my training and upskilling is patient focused.


There is a system built into almost every emergency service all over the world (refered to as control) which is dedicated to....


A, Taking the correct information and address of the emergency &
B, Dispatching an appropriate response to that address/scene.


This system employs several grades, costs a small fortune to run and has been seen by many over the year as a promotion within services..


I stress that their primary role to ensure that the correct response gets to the correct address ........but you are content with a cheap sat nav and a map and off ya go......
Ah but sure your local knowledge will get ya there or let down the window and ask someone, pass the field with the white horse, or sound the siren there maybe they will come out to ya....


As it stands I do not fully have confidence in the system that is there or being proposed by a cheap nav.....I think we and the public deserve better ....maybe that's just me

Did you even bother your b*&*ox reading my post? Which part of it do you not understand? At least if your going to quote me read the whole post and the context of it. Where did i say I was "content with a cheap sat nav"

Ah right....you'd rather just stay on your superior high horse and "patient focus"

Funnily enough I focus on the patient too. Unless you've suddenly invented the Star Trek transporter there will always be provision for local knowledge. Nothing will get you to a patient quicker than local knowledge.
Alongside this we should have the best technology available but guess what?...we don't. Crying yourself to sleep over this doesn't get the job done. Using what we have whilst pushing for better does.

i dont think its about cheap fixes... or complicating things.

GPS is a tried/tested/proven/valuable resource.

Yes you can't beat local knowledge and commons sense. But like it or not GPS is in your future and you will kick and scream, give out and be cynical all you want about the days you did things with a map. A GPS system once you are used to it will change and improve your service. It will save lives and also make things more efficient for 'others' attending and supervising the call... and to integrate and update the hospitial. not just you.
GPS is invaluable in my experience.
And its much more than a cheap SatNav. I've seen then in action in other countries. We are years and years behind... its embarrassing.

GPS in all emergency vehicles would be fantastic. If people ensure they know or have access to their post code when they have to call in a home emergency life will be all that easier for them and the service.

This is especially true in respect of people living in the countryside.