SOPHISTICATED navigation systems have been fitted in Hertfordshire's ambulances in a bid to improve vital response times.

Features of the £100,000 upgrade include a Batmobile-style digital voice guide and a computer screen map indicating the scene of the 999 call and how to get there.

Blaupunkt satellite navigation systems were fitted in front-line ambulances and fast response vehicles by Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Ambulance and Paramedic Service NHS Trust.

The state-of-the-art equipment can guide crews to hospitals from the scene of any incident and is particularly useful when staff are away from their usual area.

Since the programme was introduced in December last year, the trust has consistently met or improved upon the Government's target of reaching 75 per cent of all life-threatening calls within eight minutes.

The next stage in the development is to link the system to computers in the dispatch centre so the scene of the incident is automatically fed into the vehicle's navigation unit.

Director of performance management Hayden Newton said: "Thanks to central Government funding we have been able to bring the advantages of modern navigation technology to our crews and dispatch centre.

"The effects are already being appreciated by our paramedics and technicians on the ground and are of huge benefit to our staff and the patients we serve."

June 20, 2002 16:00