Gauteng health improves EMS response times
The MEC said to improve response times, the Gauteng Department of Health had invested in smart technologies such as push-to-talk devices.
Kwatsaduza – The Gauteng Emergency Medical Services (EMS) maintained an 88% response time for calls under 60 minutes, known as the golden hour, which aligns with international standards (80%) and trends.
This comes amid increased demand for emergency medical services in Gauteng because of the growing population and high volume of calls. The MEC for Health and Wellness, Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko, revealed this when responding to questions in the Gauteng Provincial Legislature.
Nkomo-Ralehoko gave assurance that the Gauteng EMS continued working on strategies to improve priority one response times under 30 minutes in urban areas and 60 minutes in rural areas.
Of the estimated 70 000 emergencies EMS responded to monthly, 3% of these amounted to priority one case (life-threatening).
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Of the 3%, 1% were medical cases, and 2% were trauma cases requiring law enforcement agencies’ intervention.
The MEC said to improve response times, the Gauteng Department of Health (GDoH) had invested in smart technologies such as push-to-talk devices.
These devices have live tracking to emergency calls, and panic buttons and cameras in the emergency vehicles to prevent attacks on paramedics contributing to delayed responses.
Other interventions include continuous engagement with law enforcement agencies (the SAPS, metro police and Gauteng Crime Prevention wardens) to assist with escorts to areas marked as hot zones.
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“In addition, we have procured five 4×4 specialised ambulances to access all terrains in the province. We also implemented the Gauteng Scheduled Emergency Transport (G-SET) meant to reduce patient waiting times during referrals between health facilities,” explained Nkomo-Ralehoko.
G-SET would free up ambulances to respond to primary calls like accidents, assaults, house emergencies, and more. The G-SET programme had already seen positive results in response times, a smooth patient referral and transportation model, and improved patient experience.
The MEC said service delivery protests and hot zones – where ambulances had to be escorted by the police before entering areas – and paramedic attacks were among the leading causes of delays in response times.
The GDoH urged plead with the public not to block ambulances during protests and not to allow criminals to intimidate EMS crews.
