A NEW pilot scheme using retained firefighters to provide immediate first-aid to people in medical emergencies in rural communities has been given the go-ahead by West Yorkshire Fire Authority.

West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service (WYFRS) will work in partnership with Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust (YAS) to trial the 12-month Emergency First Responder scheme, starting from April next year.

Firefighters who already live and work in outlying areas will be deployed by YAS to Red category calls, such as cardiac arrests, to provide potentially life-saving care until an ambulance arrives.

WYFRS area manager Nick Smith said: "Our firefighters are highly trained and skilled, not only in fighting fires but also in first-aid.

"It makes absolute sense for firefighters in these rural localities who are already trained in resuscitation to get to the scene as early as possible to start this vital care.

"The fire service already works closely with the ambulance service when attending incidents across West Yorkshire on a day-to-day basis, and this innovative scheme shows our commitment to joint-working to ensure the best possible service we can give to the community.

"Safeguards will be in place to make sure that the fire and rescue cover in these communities will not be affected."

One of the stations set to be involved in the pilot is Ilkley, alongside Featherstone and Skelmanthorpe.

WYFRS and YAS said the scheme had been introduced by Humberside Fire and Rescue Service in 2013 and was now adopted at 12 retained duty system stations north of the Humber.

Dr David Macklin, executive director of operations at YAS, said: "We have a responsibility to ensure we explore every available option to improve clinical outcomes for our patients.

"West Yorkshire is already served by our award-winning Community First Responder teams, who do a fantastic job as volunteers in their local areas.

"The addition of Emergency First Responders will further strengthen our response in these communities, and the two models will work side-by-side to save more lives."

David Williams, West Yorkshire secretary for the Fire Brigades Union, had raised fears that retained firefighters would only take on the added responsibility for the money, and may be subjected to higher stress levels in the dual role.

The union also had concerns that the West Yorkshire pilot scheme was not going to feed into formal national trials by the National Joint Council for Local Authority Fire and Rescue Services, a decision he claimed has now been reversed.

"The brigade has been assured the scheme will now feed into the national trials, which is very reassuring," he said.

"There are still dynamics to work out with the numbers involved, as if a retained duty station only has to show five people to turn out, we would expect all five to be acting as firefighters, not four and then one as an emergency responder.

"It's also about safeguarding our members. We have seen attacks on firefighters go up and we don't want to see attacks on first responders go up in the same way."