Ambulance of the future

Four third year Engineering undergraduates
from Oxford University charged with designing the ambulance of the future visited South Central Ambulance Service NHS Trust's (SCAS) Oxford City Resource Centre last month to research their team design project.

Jayce Homersham (Jesus), Megan Duffy
(Wadham), Daniel Nehme (Keeble) and
Kiron Athwal (Balliol) are each applying engineering knowledge learned at Oxford
University to design a specific aspect of the ambulance of the future.

The students met with Operational Manager,
Maria Langler and Senior Paramedic Gregory Hillen at Oxford City Resource Centre to compare and contrast two ambulances in use in the city and to hear suggestions from front line staff how the ambulance of the future may evolve.

Maria Langler, SCAS Operational Manager,
said: 'Helping these students research
their team design brief represents a novel way for the ambulance service to engage with the community we serve and to possibly feed into ambulance design for the future. Our discussion included the size and speed of vehicles, alternative methods of generating power to support equipment, improved patient positioning to optimise treatment, better ramp design, enhanced safety measures for front line crews and many more operational needs to benefit patients
and support crews.'

The students' design project focuses on ten specific areas - aesthetics, ergonomics, functionality, safety, quality, manufacturing, timing, economics, ecology and life-cycle. Jayce Homersham, of Jesus College said of the visit: 'We're very grateful to South Central Ambulance Service NHS Trust for arranging our visit at such short notice. It has provided us with such useful information and we particularly enjoyed hearing about some of the many challenges front line staff face in delivering this essential service to the community.'