The statistics published by British Heart Foundation late last year paint a grim picture: ambulance response times for suspected heart attacks and strokes in England reached an average of over 42 minutes in October 2023. This alarming figure is more than double the official 18-minute target and represents the highest wait times since December 2022’s staggering 93-minute average.
For those facing cardiac emergencies, every minute counts. Prolonged delays in receiving lifesaving care can lead to preventable complications, disabilities, and even premature death. The British Heart Foundation’s Associate Medical Director, Dr. Sonya Babu-Narayan, warns,
“Heart care can’t wait – yet waiting lists for heart diagnosis and treatment continue to be at crisis levels, and people are facing dangerous waits even for emergency heart attack and stroke care.”
The strain on emergency services is palpable, with cardiac waiting lists reaching a record high of 409,541 people in September 2023 – a staggering 76% increase since February 2020. More than a third of those on the waiting list have been waiting over 18 weeks, well beyond the maximum intended waiting time target, putting them at heightened risk of becoming disabled from heart failure or dying prematurely.
Amid this crisis, a glimmer of hope emerges in the form of cutting-edge AI technology. These innovative solutions promise to revolutionise emergency response by harnessing the power of data and artificial intelligence to enable faster, more informed decision-making.
Untrite’s decision intelligence platform, Thrive AI, has been successfully used in law enforcement emergency call scenarios, and we are committed to working with ambulance teams to improving emergency response times in health sector.
At the core of Thrive’s capabilities lies its ability to connect disparate data sources – global news, social media, reports, audio, video, and more – and uncover the missing links between these siloed data points. By aggregating and analysing this wealth of information, Thrive surfaces insights that empower responders, such as police control room operators and emergency dispatchers, to make swift and well-informed decisions when every second counts.
Imagine a scenario where a suspected cardiac event is reported through various channels – voice calls, text messages, or even social media posts. Thrive’s advanced speech recognition and natural language processing capabilities would immediately extract critical details from these reports, cross-referencing them with relevant data sources to provide a comprehensive, real-time understanding of the situation. This contextualised intelligence would then be seamlessly routed to the appropriate emergency response teams, equipping them with the information they need to prioritise and coordinate their actions effectively. Ambulance crews could be dispatched with greater urgency, medical personnel could be pre-briefed on the patient’s condition, and hospital resources could be mobilised in advance, ensuring a seamless continuum of care from the moment the emergency is reported.
The potential impact of such a system extends far beyond cardiac emergencies. Thrive‘s capabilities could streamline processes across the entire emergency response ecosystem, freeing up valuable time and resources for frontline responders to focus on what they do best – saving lives and serving their communities.
Imagine the possibilities; automated transcription and analysis of incident reports, real-time collaboration across agencies, predictive analytics to anticipate surges in demand, and personalised training modules to accelerate the onboarding of new personnel. The applications are virtually limitless, and the potential to transform emergency services is profound.
Thrive’s true power lies in its ability to strengthen the bond between emergency services and the communities they serve. By improving response times and ensuring more efficient resource allocation, citizens would experience a heightened sense of trust and satisfaction, knowing that their calls for help are being prioritised and met with swift, coordinated action.
Dr. Babu-Narayan’s words ring true:
“The longer people wait for treatment, the higher their risk of becoming disabled from heart failure or dying prematurely.”
We believe that with Thrive, those critical delays could be minimised, potentially saving countless lives and preventing avoidable disabilities.
As Dr. Babu-Narayan notes,
“Recruiting and retaining more specialist cardiovascular staff could help the NHS get a grip on the ever-growing waiting lists and prevent a heartbreaking rise in avoidable disability and death.”
While Thrive cannot single-handedly solve the staffing crisis, it can serve as a force multiplier, empowering existing personnel with the intelligence and decision-making capabilities they need to maximise their impact.
We imagine a world where emergency responders are equipped with the insights to triage and prioritise calls with precision, where hospital resources are mobilised in advance, and where cross-agency collaboration is seamless and data-driven. This is the vision that Thrive promises to bring to life, leveraging the transformative power of AI to revolutionise emergency response for cardiac crises and beyond and we’re working very hard to make it a reality.
As the statistics continue to paint a dire picture, with over 13,000 people waiting more than a year for time-critical heart tests and treatments as of September 2023, the need for innovative solutions has never been more urgent. The Government’s re-commitment to long-term workforce planning, as mentioned in the King’s Speech, is a step in the right direction, but it must be accompanied by a willingness to embrace cutting-edge technologies like Thrive.
Untrite stands ready to partner with emergency services, healthcare providers, and government agencies, offering a platform that not only streamlines operations but also prioritises the well-being of heart patients in need of time-critical care. With Thrive, the goal of providing swift, efficient, and life-saving emergency response becomes attainable, even in the face of overwhelming demand and resource constraints.
To learn more about Thrive platform, visit Thrive product page.
