Strathclyde Police, Strathclyde/Scottish Fire & Rescue, Scottish Ambulance Service. 1/76 scale model
1/76 scale (OO Gauge) model replicas, a mixture of Oxford production models and Code 3 adaptions by me.
Strathclyde Police are represented with their recognisable Divisional resource, a VW Transporter cell van, with a Jaguar representing their Roads Policing/Traffic Unit.
SFRS - Strathclyde fire appliance joined by Scottish Fire and Rescue Service Aerial Rescue Pump.
Scottish Ambulance Service are represented by the Oxford released Mercedes Sprinter, bearing the registration SH62 XDY which was a Springburn (Glasgow Central Ambulance Station) vehicle. Alongside is a code 3 adaption of a Lomond Mountain Rescue ambulance into a SAS “Urgent Tier” vehicle.
Urgent Tier vehicles are regularly staffed by an Ambulance Technician (EMT, AAP) and a “D1” (blue light trained & authorised) Ambulance Care Assistant. They are used to attend Interhospital transfers and GP urgent admissions (1-4 hour, non blue light response).
As such, older urgent tier vehicles carried most but not all the equipment of a standard A&E ambulance, but could also be used as a first response to ILT (Immediately Life Threatening) calls such as; Cardiac Arrest, Unconscious, Active Seizure (treated as anoxic seizure or status epilepticus until proven otherwise), and severe Breathing Difficulties), as the Technician has intermediate life support training, including airway management (iGel, LMA, N/OPA), manual defibrillation, 4 & 12 lead ECG with interpretation skills for a restricted number of rhythms including STEMI (with telemetry to Cardiac Care Unit (CCU) facility), VT, VF, Asystole, Sinus Tach, Sinus Brady and NSR, authority to recognise life extinct in prescribed circumstances, as well as a range of medications via oral, buccal, sublingual, Inhaled, IPPV and intramuscular routes etc, and the ACA has Basic Life Support skills as well as expert manual handling and patient care and support skills, in addition to standard Advanced and Emergency Response driving skills.
Nowadays, Urgent Tier vehicles are indistinguishable from standard A&E ambulances, with fully kitted Mercedes Sprinters being the norm. With the standardisation of uniforms, an Urgent Tier crew can normally only be identified by the crew’s epaulettes. With rising call numbers, a huge proportion of which are GP requests and many more being inappropriate public requests, Urgent Tier vehicles are more and more being used for standard emergency calls. Exceptions perhaps being the dedicated PCI vehicles based at specialist heart attack centres to transfer patients for angiography, stenting etc and to repatriate post emergency PPCI patients to their local hospital for ongoing care. These vehicles are however usually funded directly by the PCI capable facility, and as such directly receive their workload from a Hospital co-ordinator, usually having little daily contact with the Ambulance Control Centres (ACC) in Cardonald, Queensferry and Inverness.
Strathclyde Police, Strathclyde/Scottish Fire & Rescue, Scottish Ambulance Service. 1/76 scale model
1/76 scale (OO Gauge) model replicas, a mixture of Oxford production models and Code 3 adaptions by me.
Strathclyde Police are represented with their recognisable Divisional resource, a VW Transporter cell van, with a Jaguar representing their Roads Policing/Traffic Unit.
SFRS - Strathclyde fire appliance joined by Scottish Fire and Rescue Service Aerial Rescue Pump.
Scottish Ambulance Service are represented by the Oxford released Mercedes Sprinter, bearing the registration SH62 XDY which was a Springburn (Glasgow Central Ambulance Station) vehicle. Alongside is a code 3 adaption of a Lomond Mountain Rescue ambulance into a SAS “Urgent Tier” vehicle.
Urgent Tier vehicles are regularly staffed by an Ambulance Technician (EMT, AAP) and a “D1” (blue light trained & authorised) Ambulance Care Assistant. They are used to attend Interhospital transfers and GP urgent admissions (1-4 hour, non blue light response).
As such, older urgent tier vehicles carried most but not all the equipment of a standard A&E ambulance, but could also be used as a first response to ILT (Immediately Life Threatening) calls such as; Cardiac Arrest, Unconscious, Active Seizure (treated as anoxic seizure or status epilepticus until proven otherwise), and severe Breathing Difficulties), as the Technician has intermediate life support training, including airway management (iGel, LMA, N/OPA), manual defibrillation, 4 & 12 lead ECG with interpretation skills for a restricted number of rhythms including STEMI (with telemetry to Cardiac Care Unit (CCU) facility), VT, VF, Asystole, Sinus Tach, Sinus Brady and NSR, authority to recognise life extinct in prescribed circumstances, as well as a range of medications via oral, buccal, sublingual, Inhaled, IPPV and intramuscular routes etc, and the ACA has Basic Life Support skills as well as expert manual handling and patient care and support skills, in addition to standard Advanced and Emergency Response driving skills.
Nowadays, Urgent Tier vehicles are indistinguishable from standard A&E ambulances, with fully kitted Mercedes Sprinters being the norm. With the standardisation of uniforms, an Urgent Tier crew can normally only be identified by the crew’s epaulettes. With rising call numbers, a huge proportion of which are GP requests and many more being inappropriate public requests, Urgent Tier vehicles are more and more being used for standard emergency calls. Exceptions perhaps being the dedicated PCI vehicles based at specialist heart attack centres to transfer patients for angiography, stenting etc and to repatriate post emergency PPCI patients to their local hospital for ongoing care. These vehicles are however usually funded directly by the PCI capable facility, and as such directly receive their workload from a Hospital co-ordinator, usually having little daily contact with the Ambulance Control Centres (ACC) in Cardonald, Queensferry and Inverness.