FOCUS: Inside Guernsey's emergency call centres

Monday 26 October 2020

Express spent some time with the operators manning the Covid-19 helpline, the JESCC control room and the Guernsey Coastguard to gain an insight into their "relentless" workloads and the support they provide at critical moments.

The Covid-19 call centre at the Fire Station is the newest addition to the emergency helplines, however operators have already responded to more than 15,000 calls since it was established in March. On the morning we visited, over 75 people had been booked in for a corona virus test before midday.

“Anyone with even minor symptoms is being asked to call us,” explained Nigel Gill, supervisor of the JESCC helpline team. “But everyone’s getting their flu jabs at the moment, so there are a lot of symptoms going around. We can’t afford to be complacent.”

Recently, many parents have contacted one of the Covid-19 lines with concerns about their children: “if they’re just showing the one symptom, say a runny nose, typically they just need to isolate. But if they’ve got a runny nose and a cough, for example, then we take them for a test.”

While this helpline is specifically for people displaying symptoms, the team also receives a number of calls regarding the requirements for isolation.

Pictured: Between 8am-4pm Monday to Friday, calls to the Covid-19 clinical helpline are handled by a team in the Fire Station on Arsenal Road. Out-of-hours calls are handled at the main JESCC control centre.

 “A lot of people call us worrying if, for example, they saw their grandparents over the weekend but now have to isolate and be tested, whether or not their grandparents would need to isolate too,” said Mr Gill.

“If we have the answer to a non-clinical query, we will answer it, but very often we refer people to the website for questions about travel and so on.”

Over 15,600 calls have been taken in total since the helpline was established in March. There are currently four team members, but the capacity exists to expand if demand increases or the island is hit by a second wave. 

Mr Gill said that work for the helpline is "relentless.".

“It’s been a roller coaster since day 1. The situation evolves so rapidly, and especially in the early days you’d get so much information thrown at you, because testing and travel restrictions are changing so much. It’s been a massive challenge to take on board, but the team has been brilliant."

This centre is operational between 8am-4pm: outside of these times, calls are taken by JESCC staff in the main control room, where the pandemic has had a significant impact on the way their work is carried out.

"We have had people phone in to give information about covid breaches, which can be really helpful," said Mia Musto, one of the call takers. "But the biggest change is the sense of risk that needs to be managed. We need to know if anyone is symptomatic or isolating, so that whoever arrives on the scene has the appropriate PPE. It can make calls last a little longer, but it's very important to everyone's safety."

Pictured: The JESCC main control room at the Police Station. 

The clinical helpline was incredibly busy during lockdown, but the usual emergency services noticed a significant drop in 'day-to-day' calls. Since restrictions eased in June, however, things have returned to something like normal.

"I'd say the first two weekends after lockdown lifted were wild," said Ms Musto. "For a while, weeknights were big as well. But that very first Saturday was quite good, actually. A lot of people were out but there but it seemed like the Guernsey Together spirit was really high."

Friday and Saturday nights are typically busier periods, but there isn't any way to predict when there will be a sudden rush of calls, especially for the ambulance service. At the beginning of the day that I was there, there were two ambulance crews, but before noon another three had been assembled in response to calls, including a Priority 1 call for an elderly man who has suffered a fall. 

999 calls take precedence over everything else in the room. Within seconds, the call taker has established an address and passed it onto dispatch, who will liaise with the emergency service teams and send the closest available vehicle to the scene. The call taker then asks for a phone number in case the signal drops, and checks on the status of the patient. If there is a possible threat to life, the call taker will stay on the line until an ambulance crew arrives, so that there are always eyes on the situation.

Ms Musto also takes the name of the caller, as she finds it helps to reassure them. JESCC's computer system guides the call taker through a series of questions to ensure that they receive all the relevant information from the caller, who is the only person who can actually see what is happening. 

Call handlers in JESCC are there 24/7 to help you when you need it.

December and Christmas were no exception.

Here's the number of calls for service they received last month:

Police: 1444 (Christmas Day 38)

Ambulance: 477 (Christmas Day 12)

Fire: 117 (Christmas Day 7) pic.twitter.com/nQMjyLorqL

— Guernsey Police (@GuernseyPolice) January 28, 2020

Pictured: December can be one of the busiest period in the year for JESCC. As dispatch handler Kyle Guille explained, "in December, everyone seems to go out every night, rain or shine."

"A 2-car road traffic collision could be just a bump and a scratch, but if it's head-on it can be much more serious, we could need fire crews and police, as well as an ambulance crew to make sure everyone is alright."

Ms Musto wished to make it clear to the public that being on the phone does not delay help arriving; once an address is logged in the computer system, it appears on the dispatch team's screen, and is then passed on to the relevant services and someone is sent to help. 

Sometimes calls come in from people who aren't sure of where they are, either because they're new to the island or they're out on the cliff paths without a fixed address. In those instances, they have found the what3words app, which assigns a 3-word 'coordinate' to your location, to be invaluable.

The team has to be prepared for anything, as Ms Musto explained: "I think what a lot of people enjoy about the job is that you don't walk in, sit down and know what you'll be getting. You will never, ever get two days that are the same as one another. But no one ever calls us up to have fun." Some residents do, however, dial 999 to wish the team a 'Merry Christmas' or 'Happy New Year': "it is very lovely of them, but please just send a letter or an email instead!"

While JESCC manages the emergency services within the island, the Guernsey Coastguard team are keeping a watchful eye on the waters around the Bailiwick. Thomas, who is responsible for training the Coastguard staff, explained that the role was not as similar to JESCC's as it might appear on first glance. 

"That part of the team are almost always responding to a call, with a caller on the other end. But we could be responding to even a little bit of radio static, that might turn out to be someone saying hello, or it might turn out to be a distress call from a vessel taking on water.

It’s #InternationalControlRoomWeek and so we’re highlighting our #unsungheroes in headsets who are the first voices you hear in an emergency

24/7-365 the JESCC teams are there for you

Here are our wonderful shifts with their signs sent from @apdcomms pic.twitter.com/L6TtADs09G

— Guernsey Police (@GuernseyPolice) October 23, 2020

"And on top of that, the way we might respond to a situation could be completely different on any given day, depending on the weather, the distance from the shore or any number of other things. And with 1,200 nautical miles to be responsible for, we've got a much bigger audience."

The coastguard typically experiences a busier period in the summer, but a team member might not have anything to respond to all year; that's why Thomas is on hand, to keep the team's skills sharp year-round.

One of the greatest challenges for the coastguard crew is learning their environment - most Guerns know the local landmarks, but are less likely to be familiar with the rock formations that sailors would recognise. "You have to practice it, but it helps a lot. It's much quicker than having to share lengthy numerical coordinates with the lifeboats, and then worrying about whether or not you repeated it correctly."

Jess joined the Coastguard team from JESCC several years ago, and one of her very first calls was the incident where the Herm Travel Trident collided with rocks in the Little Russell. 

"That was a really interesting learning experience for me as a newcomer. I remember my manager was just leaving for the end of his shift when we got the radio message, and he spun right back around. Something that stuck with me was the fact that once we sent the broadcast out for assistance, almost every fishing boat in the area turned around to help us.

"You wouldn't dream of sending a civilian to assist with an assault or someone who's passed out, but on the coastguard you're never really alone."