Updated statement – Friday 18 November – 5pm
SECAmb Strategic Commander, Nick Keech:
“We are pleased that, following the IT issues experienced by the Trust last week, and a period of operating our Computer Aided Dispatch, (CAD), from our East Emergency Operations Centre in Coxheath, Kent, all of our systems are now functioning fully. This follows an extensive testing period to ensure all our systems were stable.
“I would like to thank everyone involved resolving the issues and all our staff and volunteers for their hard work during this period to ensure we could continue to respond to patients across our region.”
Updated statement – Monday 14 November – 11:30
SECAmb Executive Director of Operations, Emma Williams:
“I would like to thank the public for their support and our staff and volunteers as we continue to manage the IT issues we began experiencing last week (Thursday 10 November).
“The start of the week is often a busy time for our service and the public can continue to help us by only calling 999 in the event of a serious emergency.
“We are continuing to work closely with our providers to get all our systems fully functioning while we operate our Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) from our East Emergency Operations Centre in Coxheath, Kent.
“A tremendous amount of hard work has taken place across the weekend as we continued to respond to patients and I would like to thank everyone at SECAmb for their ongoing professionalism and commitment.”
Updated statement – Friday 11 November 10:00
SECAmb Executive Director of Operations, Emma Williams:
“We continue to experience significant IT system issues, which are affecting our Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) and which are preventing our systems from working fully.
“We are pleased that this morning, (Friday 11 November) we have been able to move back onto our CAD, operating it as a standalone system at our East Emergency Operations Centre in Coxheath, Kent. We are continuing to work closely with our IT providers on fully resolving the issues.
“I would like to thank all our staff and volunteers who have been working so incredibly hard to manage the impact of this, while also trying to resolve the issues as quickly as possible.
“In light of the fact we have been able to return to the use of our CAD in a limited form, going forward, the incident will be managed as an internal Business Continuity Incident (BCI).
“We would like to thank the public for their ongoing support and urge them to continue to help us manage the demand placed upon us by only calling 999 in the event of a serious emergency.”
________________________________
Thursday 10 Nov, 21:00 (now updated above)
Please attribute to a South East Coast Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust, (SECAmb), spokesperson:
“SECAmb has tonight, (10 November), declared a Critical Incident following IT issues which resulted in the loss of our CAD (Computer Aided Dispatch) and the need to move to our back-up telephone systems.
“While we are working hard with our IT providers to find a solution to the issue, and have implemented well-rehearsed contingency plans, the loss of the CAD, along with the high demand we are facing across our region tonight, is placing significant pressure on our services.
“We continue answer calls and respond to patients but urge people to only call 999 in the event of a serious emergency and to make use of services including NHS 111 Online for help and advice.
“We would like to thank our staff and volunteers for their hard work and commitment at this challenging time and assure the public that we are doing everything we can to resolve the issue as quickly as possible.”