Panasonic TOUGHBOOK Selected for Major Ambulance Technology Refresh Across England and Wales

Ambulance Service Trusts enhance patient safety with Panasonic TOUGHBOOK devices in rapid response vehicles and dual crewed ambulances.

As part of the nationwide Ambulance Radio Programme (ARP), Ambulance Service Trusts across England and Wales are undergoing a significant technology refresh to increase efficiency and enhance patient safety. Panasonic TOUGHBOOK is working with long-standing critical technology partners Centerprise, Terrafix, and Telent to provide its latest rugged mobile devices to all rapid response and dual crewed ambulances.

The ARP will enable all 12 NHS Ambulance Service Trusts, serving 50 million people, to seamlessly coordinate with updated control room solutions to improve the efficiency and delivery of its service. The ARP delivers crucial technology solutions across the UK, such as patient transportation applications, to ensure effective communications between Ambulance Service Trusts, the NHS, and other frontline emergency responders.

As part of the ARP initiative, Panasonic and its partners are providing a standardised, yet flexible solution to be deployed nationally. With a variety of vehicles, models and dashboard designs, each deployment will be customised to meet individual Trusts’ needs. Using Panasonic TOUGHBOOK devices running on Windows enables additional functionalities and applications to be easily developed as these requirements change.

Panasonic TOUGHBOOK devices will enable ambulance crews to access the most up-to-date and detailed mapping of England and Wales’s rural and urban areas, through the National Mobilisation Application, developed by Terrafix. This software can be updated remotely, minimising ambulance downtime.

The initiative has already seen over 4,000 new installations of Panasonic TOUGHBOOK devices in ambulance service vehicles across England and Wales.

Stuart Murphy, Senior Programme Manager at the ARP, said, “We’re seeing next-to-no failure in those Trusts that have completed installations. With fantastic reliability, usability, crystal-clear display, first-class connectivity and mapping capability, the new solutions have received great feedback from our frontline crew, enabling them to pinpoint incident locations with far greater accuracy. Ultimately, the roll-out will lead to fewer vehicles off the road due to hardware failures, reduced downtime and better patient safety.”

Will Holmes, Business Manager for Public Sector (Fire, Ambulance & Central Government) at Panasonic Mobile Solutions, added: “This technology refresh is a game-changer for the NHS Ambulance Service Trusts across England and Wales. By integrating rugged, reliable, and highly functional TOUGHBOOK tablets into their vehicles, they set new standards for efficiency and patient safety. This upgrade ensures that our ambulance services remain at the forefront of emergency response, ready to save lives with the best technology available.”

For more information, read the case study here: https://eu.connect.panasonic.com/gb/en/case-studies/england-and-wales-nhs-trusts-ambulance-radio-programme