Community First Responders' Contribution to Emergency Medical Service Provision in the United Kingdom

Area of Science:

• Emergency medicine
• Public health
• Pre-hospital care

Background:

• Community first responders (CFRs) play a vital role in augmenting emergency medical services.
• Their contribution is particularly crucial in areas with longer response times.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the quantitative and qualitative contribution of CFRs to emergency care provision.
• To analyze the types of calls, patient demographics, and geographical distribution of CFR interventions.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective observational study utilizing electronic clinical records from UK ambulance services in 2019.
• Descriptive statistics were employed to analyze incident and patient characteristics attended by CFRs in rural and urban settings.

Main Results:

• CFRs attended a higher proportion of calls in rural (3.90%) versus urban (1.48%) areas.
• CFRs were first responders for over 9% of category 1 and nearly 5% of category 2 calls, particularly in rural locations.
• CFRs managed a significant percentage of cardiorespiratory and neurological/endocrine conditions, with notable attendance for calls with extended arrival times (>60 minutes) in rural areas.

Conclusions:

• CFRs are integral to UK emergency medical services, with a pronounced impact on rural and urgent care scenarios.
• The scope of CFR practice has evolved beyond initial cardiac arrest response, necessitating expanded training.
• Future development should focus on comprehensive training and further research involving all stakeholders to optimize CFR roles.