Our mobile application has the benefit of reducing the response time of emergency services, which is a crucial factor in saving lives and reducing damages, especially in cases of fire outbreak.
The current NHS standard set for the ambulance service is for the ambulance to reach 75% of life-threatening emergency calls within 8 minutes. If onward transport is required, 95% of the calls will receive an ambulance capable to transporting the patient safely within 19 minutes. Although ambulance services are currently meeting this standard, we believe that the standard can be raised by using our application.
Several acute disease have survival rate that decreases rapidly if not treated within minutes. For example, the survival rate of cardiac arrests decreases by 7% to 10% every minute if defibrillation is not provided. With Assisted-GPS which is able to achieve a Time To First Fix of 15 seconds and a 15m radius of accuracy, we believe that we can drastically shorten the time require to transport patients to hospitals, thus saving more lives. Using value of statistical life (VSL) calculations, a person's life in the UK is worth approximately US$6m. The solution thus has the potential to have very high quantifiable as well as intangible benefits.
Another advantage of fast emergency response time is to deter crimes. The time required to commit certain crimes, such as rape and burglary, are quite long. With a faster emergency response time, there is a higher chance of catching these criminals while they are committing the crime, thus deterring crime. If you would like to know more about the crime figures in London, please click on the quick link to the Metropolitan Police crime figures on the left
Finally, a faster emergency response time would also benefit the fire service in rescuing victims from fire and reducing property damages. From December 2010 to December 2011, there were 12,887 cases of primary fires resulting in 60 deaths and 892 injuries. The average time taken for the first fire engine to arrive is 5 minutes and 22 seconds. As fire tends to spread quickly, a faster response time will potentially reduce the number of deaths and injuries, and property damage due to fire
The cost of implementation of the user plane solution is minimal. This is because all of the software (app and corresponding software for receiving the information) will be developed by our group, and thus the costs will arise from making the app available for download on the app stores like Google Play for Android and iTunes AppStore for Apple (estimated to be less than £100 in total). Costs will also arise from installing a portable GPS system for the emergency response vehicles or personnel to obtain information about the location on the go. However, since there is already the Automated Personal Location System (ALPS) available for the Metropolitan Police, this system can be rolled out to all emergency authorities and our software can be integrated into the existing system. The additional location information provided by our solution can be easily integrated into existing emergency dispatch information systems.
While the estimated costs are minimal, the corresponding benefits of this solution are both tangible and intangible, such as the tangible benefits of property saved in a fire or recovered during theft, but also more importantly in the intangible benefits of saving lives saved or even preventing rape. Using the value of statistical life (VSL) calculations, an average person's life in the UK is worth approximately US$6m. The solution thus has the potential to have very high quantifiable as well as intangible benefits.
Furthermore, the solution can be justified by the amount that the emergency authorities have spent on similar projects. For example, the NHS has spent £10,000 on a Drink Tracker app for users to monitor their alcohol intake and £10,000 for an app to help smokers quit smoking (BBC News). Also, the Metropolitan Police intend to deploy more police officers through their new territorial policing model. Similar apps, such as Crimepush, which allows the user to send an automated message to loved ones in case of emergency, has between 5,000 and 10,000 downloads from Google Play. With more advertising and publicity by the EAs, our app can reach even more people. Thus, in comparison, the estimated cost of the user-plane solution is considerably lesser and is also predicted to have significant returns.