WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU CALL 111 VIDEO TRANSCRIPT
Narrator: When you call 111 a Telecom operator will transfer the call to the service you require, Fire, Ambulance or Police.
[Fire Service]
Comms Centre call taker: Fire Service. Where is your emergency? Fifty Girvan Road. What town is that in?
Carren Larking: Our first and most important aspect of the job is to get an accurate location and address from our caller.
Call taker: And what is your nearest side street? And what’s happening there?
Carren: We need to know what’s on fire, where the accident is, what’s actually happening. And that job is automatically accepted, goes straight through to the dispatchers.
Call taker: Five zero Girvan Road. Between Grenada Street and Hawea Street, Mount Maunganui.
Carren: So the dispatcher can get the appliances on the road and we can gather further information. For instance, if it’s a motor vehicle accident we also notify Police and Ambulance to get them underway, to make sure that if there’s any injuries or any road blockages that need to happen, those other systems can help us. For rural fires, fires in bush, DOC land, we also notify rural fire officers because they can provide back up with helicopters or rural tankers, more water supply. And with our local fires it’s usually just a fire response depending on the information (we) also receive for that if there’s persons involved in the house or somebody burnt we also notify Ambulance. If it’s a suspicious fire we can then notify Police and get them underway as well. Or Fire Safety to check and find out where the fire has started.
[Ambulance]
Sarah Lewis: When the call is received in the Ambulance Communication Centre it’s picked up by an emergency medical dispatcher.
Call taker: Ambulance. What’s the exact address of your emergency? Two Harrison Road, is that correct?
Sarah: It’s really important that you provide us with as much information as you can about the location.
Call taker: And the phone number you’re calling from please?
Sarah: We will just confirm your phone number with you. This enables us to call you back before the ambulance crew arrives if there’s any problem about your location, or if we need any more information for the crew that are coming to you. The emergency medical dispatcher will then ask you what’s happened and will try and get some information about the injuries to the patient, or the condition.
Call taker: And she’s having chest pain, is that correct?
Sarah: This helps us to determine what type of ambulance response we should send you. Staying on the line with us, answering these questions doesn’t delay the dispatch of an ambulance. We have dispatchers who will get this information on their screen and they will be able to dispatch while you’re still on the phone with us.
Call taker: Mt Wellington Station, Mt Wellington five. Priority 1 please, towards Harrison Road.
Sarah: In addition to this we can provide first aid advice and instructions on resuscitation and choking over the telephone. So if you do have a serious accident or a serious illness we are actually able to provide you will help before the ambulance crew arrives with you.
[Police]
Inspector Gary Hill: We will have a call taker that will take the emergency immediately.
Call taker: Police emergency, where is the emergency?
Inspector: The informant making the call, they will then state what their emergency is. The call taker will try and obtain as many details as possible.
Call taker: And what’s happening there? Okay, when was the last time you saw him?
Inspector: The call taker will then enter the information into the CAD system, into the computer system. That will then be displayed over to a dispatcher. The dispatcher then liaises directly with the Police units out on the street.
Dispatcher: Oh four comms, ready for job details, Karori.
Inspector: The information is being relayed constantly from the informant making the call, to the call taker, and then going through to the dispatcher, and then out into the Police units. If it’s a serious incident such as a firearms incident or a serious assault such as a stabbing, then the shift managers or inspectors in the communications centres will go and oversee either the call taker or the dispatcher to make sure that the appropriate units are being sent and that the appropriate resources are being deployed to that particularly incident.
Dispatcher: Time delay nil. Male prowler seen…
Inspector: The dispatcher has got a very important role too in the fact that it’s not necessarily Police cars that they have to coordinate. For example in pursuits they have the Police eagle helicopter, they have dog units, so they have a number of functions and roles to perform. They may also be required to carry out other functions as well as liaising with the cars. They may also be required to make telephone calls to the Armed Offenders Squad, dog units, Search and Rescue. So, there’s a lot happening in a very short space of time.
[End]
