Quick Dips

Computerised Ambulances

A new computerised model of the Wellington ambulance system could help save lives, giving vital information about the ability of the service to cope with emergencies.

The model -- which can show on screen a map of Wellington with ambulances speeding through it -- was produced by Adrian Jurke as part of the work for a Diploma in Statistics and Operations Research at Victoria University.

His study built on an earlier report from Victoria's Institute of Statistics and Operations Research that calculated the number of ambulances required on the road under different circumstances. [Ambulance Assessment, May 91]

Jurke's work goes further, his model providing a method of working out how long an ambulance would take to reach an emergency under various combinations of factors including the number of ambulances available, where they are stationed, and where the emergency occurs. His report was commissioned by the Wellington Free Ambulance Service Inc and used data, such as journey times, supplied by the service.

"Now we have the evidence to confirm our belief that we have the right number of ambulances -- and that if that number is reduced, then people will have to wait longer for an ambulance, and people may die", said Robert Upton, chief executive of the Wellington Free Ambulance Service.

The Ambulance Service has forwarded the report to the Area Health Board, Upton said. One possible use for the report, apart from assessing the ambulance service, could be in deciding where a new hospital should be built, if the authorities were to consider an option that fewer hospitals should serve the whole greater Wellington area.