Eight hundred ambulance service vehicles across Wales are undergoing a communications refresh thanks to a collaboration between the Welsh Ambulance Service (WAST), Telent and Panasonic TOUGHBOOK.
The communications rollout started in May in Caernarfon, North Wales, and will maintain the important communications link between control rooms and ambulance service vehicles, with the local collaboration bringing cost savings and minimizing the time ambulances are off the road.
The vehicle upgrades will take place at Panasonic TOUGHBOOK’s European Configuration and Service Centre in Cardiff, South Wales, and WAST’s facility in North Wales.
“It is vital that our ambulance service vehicles have reliable and unfailing communications around the clock to effectively undertake our daily duties for our communities,” said Leanne Smith, director of digital (Interim) at WAST. “The collaboration with Panasonic and Telent ensures the communications equipment refresh is completed locally, minimizing the cost and downtime of the vehicles that would otherwise have had to be transported outside of the region for operational space.”
Telent will install the specialist equipment as part of the Mobile Data and Vehicle Solution (MDVS), which is replacing the mobile data elements of the communications equipment within ambulances. The upgrade will enhance communications for frontline ambulance workers, and the MDVS installation includes a vehicle data router and a fully ruggedised Panasonic TOUGHBOOK touch screen tablet device.
The Panasonic team will assemble the TOUGHBOOK devices at the Cardiff facility with Telent integrating these and other components of the overall solution within the vehicles. Key components of the devices have been sourced from local suppliers across Wales.
Panasonic’s facility will be staffed by Telent’s experienced vehicle engineers, with the team ensuring the vehicle upgrades do not disrupt active operations.
To find out more information about Telent, visit: https://telent.com/.
