Remembering Douglas Chamberlain (1931–2025): ‘what the ambulance service ought to be’

The title of this brief comment was the final part of my inaugural Larrey Lecture given in London on 13 July 2016. It represents only an opinion; hence, some disagreement is naturally expected, and indeed, welcomed. Honest debate can stimulate progress.

While physical maps and individual knowledge of local areas allow paramedics to find their way to critical locations, the use of satellite navigation is still used in the vast majority of tactical operations through the on-board vehicle mounted communications systems. What's more, the use of global navigation satellite systems (GNSS) is likely to become even more integral to everyday missions. Oulu in Finland recently linked a monitoring system between the town's CCTV and central traffic light system with GNSS tracking. This enables emergency vehicles to be ‘green lighted’ through the main urban intersections to an incident anywhere in the municipal area, vastly improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the emergency response call-outs.