THE South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust has become the first in the UK to roll out ‘cutting edge’ technology to help train their staff to deal with incidents at work.

Virtual reality, or VR for short, will be in place for incident commanders with them being put through “an immersive training experience” that tests knowledge, skills, and decision-making in a “realistic environment”.

Types of incidents in the training could include dealing with multi-vehicle road traffic collisions, flooding, and terrorist attacks.

“It is really effective training,” one incident commander said.“It is really effective training,” one incident commander said. (Image: Newsquest)

During the training, virtual reality headsets are worn, or a joystick is used. A three-dimensional moving image with realistic sound effects and voice injects is then shown, which replicates a live incident.

So far, the training has been well received by some of the team who work for the South Western Ambulance Service.

One commander said: “It provides an immersive, safe, and controllable learning environment which was very engaging and so realistic.

“It is really effective training.”

The VR training is something the South Western Ambulance Service is keen to implement in other areas of the trust, such as the Emergency Operations Centres, where 999 calls are received.

Mark Harwood, command development officer and paramedic, provides the training for the ambulance staff.

Mark said: “As a Trust, we continue to work hard to develop the care we provide to our patients, by using innovative tactics to better equip our people.

“We are proud to be the first ambulance trust in the country, who is providing this type of virtual reality training.”