More lives could be saved in the Bradford area thanks to a new, £250,000 ambulance communications system.

The advanced technology has been used by West Yorkshire Metropolitan Ambulance Service staff for only two months.

It replaces the service's first computerised system which was at least eight years old.

WYMAS is one of only two ambulance services in the country to operate the latest technology.

The system can predict where ambulances are needed, by taking time, traffic, weather and events into account, and identify which ambulance can get to a call the fastest - which is not necessarily the one that is closest geographically.

It gives paramedics more details than have previously been possible about the person they are going to help, so the emergency crews are better prepared before they arrive.

The system also gives operators at the communications centre in Birkenshaw, Bradford, important medical instructions which they can relay to callers.

Such information could be vital, for example, where a caller needs help to deliver a baby, to stop bleeding or to resuscitate someone before the ambulance crew reaches them.

WYMAS spokesman David Pitts said: "It's those vital seconds when you are giving information over the phone that could save a life.

"This system puts us at the leading edge of ambulance technology."

The MEDiC communications system even has a map of the area covered by WYMAS which is so detailed the operator - and eventually ambulance crews - can see house numbers.

Vital time is also saved because instead of having to scour maps and phone books and rely on their memories about where ambulances are, all the information is available for operators at the touch of a button.

Later, there will be a computer link with the casualty department at Bradford Royal Infirmary so doctors will know about the patient's illness or injury before they arrive.

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