- Casualty care
- Crowd control and public disorder
- Road closures
- Evacuation
- Refuge centre or emergency accommodation
- Assistance for incidents that may not normally require attendance of a fire service
- Rescue of people at risk
- Right Care, Right Person
When requesting the attendance of other agencies, information should be provided to allow responding agencies to allocate appropriate resources. A M/ETHANE message should be used to share incident details.
Other agencies may hold additional risk information in relation to the premises or people at risk. Gathering this information as early as possible may support the safe resolution of the incident. It is essential that additional information obtained is recorded and shared with operational personnel at the earliest opportunity.
Fire control personnel may receive emergency calls that require the attendance of more than one emergency service. The call handling agent will provide a verbal handover if it is known at the outset that more than one emergency service is needed. Fire control personnel should confirm with the call handling agent whether they will pass call details to the other emergency services, or whether the call handling agent will remain on the call and connect the caller to the other emergency services that have been requested.
If fire control personnel believe that the caller requires urgent medical guidance, the call handling agent should be asked to remain on the call to ensure connection to the ambulance service without delay.
If the call handling agent has not remained on the call and the caller needs to speak to another emergency service, fire control personnel should ask the caller to stay on the line while they disconnect themselves. When fire control personnel disconnect from the call, it will be represented to the call handling agent for connection to the required emergency service.
This process should also be followed for callers needing the assistance of all other emergency services. More information can be found in PECS Code of Practice.
Right Care, Right Person
The concept of Right Care, Right Person has its origins in the National Health Service (NHS) and policing. It is an approach designed to ensure that when there are concerns for a person’s welfare linked to their mental health, medical or social care issues, a simple principle guides the response. That is the right person with the right skills, training and experience should provide the appropriate level of care and support. Ensuring care is provided by the agency that can best meet the individual’s needs should be the overriding objective; in many cases this will not be the police or the fire and rescue service.
The National Partnership Agreement: Right Care, Right Person (RCRP) has been adopted by some police forces in England and Wales through the implementation of the College of Policing Right Care Right Person (RCRP) toolkit.
Although not bound by the National Partnership Agreement, fire and rescue services should make themselves aware of the approaches that are being used by police forces in their area, and the impact these may have on their fire control, operational and other activities. There may be a benefit in developing a memorandum of understanding with local services, including the police and the NHS, for Right Care, Right Person approaches.
While fire and rescue services in Scotland and Northern Ireland have a responsibility to safeguard vulnerable people, their police forces have not formally adopted the RCRP toolkit.