SEC Ambulance service still experiencing difficulty with 'significant' IT issues

On November 10, SECAmb declared a Critical Incident, which resulted in the loss of its Computer Aided Dispatch, (CAD). Subsequently, they had to switch to their back-up telephone systems.

The NHS Foundation Trust, who have responsibility for looking after Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, West Sussex, Kent, Surrey, and North East Hampshire continued to answer the phone over night, but urged the public to only ring the number in need of an emergency. Those with non-critical situations were advised to contact 111.

SECAmb Executive Director of Operations, Emma Williams, said: “We continue to experience significant IT system issues, which are affecting our Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) and which are preventing our systems from working fully.

“We are pleased that this morning, (Friday 11 November) we have been able to move back onto our CAD, operating it as a standalone system at our East Emergency Operations Centre in Coxheath, Kent. We are continuing to work closely with our IT providers on fully resolving the issues.

“I would like to thank all our staff and volunteers who have been working so incredibly hard to manage the impact of this, while also trying to resolve the issues as quickly as possible."

She continued: “In light of the fact we have been able to return to the use of our CAD in a limited form, going forward, the incident will be managed as an internal Business Continuity Incident (BCI).

“We would like to thank the public for their ongoing support and urge them to continue to help us manage the demand placed upon us by only calling 999 in the event of a serious emergency.”

SECAmb suffered a similar issue back in November 2021. The trust announced that they had experienced: “significant IT issue overnight”, before later resolving the issues. However, they're yet to announce the cause of the current situation.