Come and meet us at Retrieval 2013

This week the Emergency Medical Retrieval Service is once again hosting Retrieval 2013, the UK's leading conference covering pre-hospital, transfer and retrieval medicine today and tomorrow in Scotland.
On hand from Ferno is Mark Richards and Scott Campbell who are showing off some of our kit and introducing delegates to Ferno innovations for the emergency medical retrieval services in the UK.
Speakers this year include Dan Ellis, Medical Director, MedSTAR Adelaide Australia; Stephen Sollid, Dean, Norwegian Air Ambulance Academy; David Ohlen, Medical Director, Airborne Intensive Care, Sweden and Anni Ridsdill Smith, Director at Airate Lt.
This year Retrieval 2013 have dedicated sessions for nursing and paramedic staff involved in prehospital care, transfer and retrieval along with interactive case based discussions and a free paper session. Following previous years there is also dedicated paediatric and neonatal sessions as well as pre-hospital care.
Further sessions will focus on Human Factors in medicine as well as Innovation and Quality Improvement. The conference is again being held at the Beardmore Conference Centre, Scotland's top residential conference centre.
If you’re attending come along and say hello to Mark and Scott.

Ferno gears up for major health and safety exhibitions

We will be showcasing our products at several high profile exhibitions this year.
The run of exhibitions which Ferno will be attending kicks off next month with the Safety & Health Expo 2013 at the NEC Birmingham between May 14 and 16.
Safety & Health Expo, which is run exclusively with the support of Institute of Occupational Safety & Health (IOSH), the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) and the British Safety Industry Federation (BSIF), has established itself as the definitive industry event and consistently attracts safety & health decision makers from multiple sectors and with responsibilities across UK, Europe and international markets.
Ferno will be showcasing a wide range of products and services at Safety & Health Expo in Hall 1, Stand 1C24 where Ferno staff will be on hand to offer advice and insight into new innovations and products at the company.
Ferno managing director Jon Ellis said: “Safety & Health Expo is one of the best attended events in the health and safety sector’s calendar and provides us with a great opportunity to meet with professionals from a wide range of sectors while showcasing our emergency medical solutions.”
Later in May, Ferno will also be exhibiting at the Life Connections exhibition at Kettering Conference Centre, Kettering, Northamptonshire and the World Congress on Disaster Emergency Medicine in Manchester.
Life Connections, which takes place between May 16-17, is a unique two-day multi-conference event that brings together delegates from many professions who are
responsible for saving lives. Ferno is attending on Stand 33.
On May 28-31, the World Congress on Disaster Emergency Medicine, organised by the World Association on Disaster and Emergency Medicine, provides a platform where emergency medical care professionals can share experiences and best practice.
Over the years, key collaborating organisations have included the World Health Organization, International Red Cross and Red Crescent, the military, and national and regional disaster and emergency medicine societies.

Ferno launches new critical care transfer trolley for air ambulance service

We have launched a new Critical Care Transfer Trolley, specially adapted for use on aircraft including helicopters.
The CCT Trolley is adapted to carry all the life-supporting equipment necessary for safely transporting both pre- and post-operative heart patients as well as patients recovered from a life threatening accident by an air ambulance.
The trolley includes the latest technology to enable clinicians and paramedics to constantly monitor a patient’s condition, helping to ensure these vulnerable patients get the best possible care when they need it most.
It also enables ambulance and air ambulance crews to transfer patients quickly and easily with no need to disconnect vital life-supporting equipment, significantly reducing the risk of complications.
Our managing director Jon Ellis says: “Nothing like this has been developed before and our research and development team have invested a lot of time and effort to deliver a product that specifically meets the needs of the air ambulance service which is a very exacting brief.
“With the launch of our new CCT Trolley, air ambulance paramedics and doctors now have access to all the life support systems most clinicians would associate with a hospital operating theatre or critical care ward. This means that more lives will be saved.”
Ferno works with several air ambulance services, NHS Ambulance Trusts and several private ambulance companies. It has a particularly close relationship with the Yorkshire Air Ambulance for which the company has raised thousands of pounds as one of the key charities it supports.

Industry-first technology drives up vehicle efficiency

Emergency services fleet managers looking to improve vehicle efficiency and safety will benefit from a novel performance monitoring system.
ACETECH is a fully integrated vehicle performance monitoring and control system for ambulances and other emergency response vehicles which provides on-board intelligence to help reduce operating and fuel costs.
Jon Ellis, managing director at Ferno, said: “For more than 40 years, our customers have relied on Ferno for best-in-class professional emergency and healthcare products that increase efficiency and enhance safety for patients and personnel.
“ACETECH’s technology is a natural fit for our product line. It’s the only fully-integrated efficiency optimisation solution. The savings in fuel costs alone are considerable. But when combined with increased personnel productivity, the return on investment for fleet owners is significant. We are extremely pleased to be able to offer this industry-first technology to our customers.”
The ACETECH system is the first of its kind for UK emergency vehicles and inter-connects four key modules that offer customised monitoring and control of all vehicle electronics - driving, driver restraint systems, GPS-based monitoring and control of fleet vehicle assets in the field.
ACETECH also integrates Radio Frequency Identification-based tracking and security for all vehicle equipment assets as well as ECO-Run monitoring and control of fuel consumption idling. The system is available for new vehicle builds and can be easily retrofitted on older vehicles.
The full system provides constant, real-time, actionable information on a wide range of data points including vehicle status and location; equipment location; driving behavior with event status and duration; occupant restraint status, engine status and fuel consumption. Using this data as a whole allows emergency fleet managers to take full control of asset placement in the field, increase emergency vehicle driver and occupant safety, and reduce operational and fuel costs.

Ferno to supply trolleys to Scottish Ambulance Service NHS Trust

Ferno has been named as a key supplier of ambulance trolleys to the Scottish Ambulance Service NHS Trust - one of the biggest in the UK.
The contract win follows the recent announcement that the Scottish Ambulance Service is investing £34.3 million over the next four years to replace more than 570 vehicles.
This will be made up of 326 new accident and emergency vehicles – comprising of traditional ambulances and paramedic response units - 98 patient transport vehicles and 151 support vehicles. Over time Ferno will supply the new vehicles with its Pegasus Stretcher Trolleys and the new Harrier LT LBS Bariatric Trolleys.
It also coincides with news that health chiefs spent almost £4 million in five years on specialist gear to treat obese patients.
According to the Scottish Sun NHS bosses splashed out £85,000 on just one hoist to lift overweight Scots. And extra wide shower chairs, special walking sticks and reinforced beds were also needed. Last night politicians blasted the massive bill for patients who are victims of their “own lifestyle”.
Tory health spokesman Jackson Carlaw said: “For some patients, obesity arrives as a result of medical misfortune, and we have to do all we can to help such people. However, extending that generosity to those who pile on weight through lifestyle choices is becoming increasingly challenging. You don’t catch obesity on the train. The ultimate responsibility must lie with the individual.”
Ferno Managing Director Jon Ellis says: “This is a very significant contract for Ferno and underscores both the quality of our products and the deep understanding we have of the challenges faced by a modern ambulance service to deliver equipment which best meet their needs.
“It is significant that our new Harrier LT LBS Bariatric Trolley is being adopted by the Scottish Ambulance Service as we have witnessed a significant rise in demand for bariatric medical equipment as emergency services and hospitals struggle to manage with the UK’s growing obesity problem.”
Ferno has developed a range of specialist equipment including ambulance trolleys, wheel chairs, evacuation chairs and hospital trolleys specifically designed for bariatric patients. The term "bariatric" refers to the population of obese patients who require specialist medical intervention and equipment.
Jon says: “The larger bariatric equipment we have designed and developed allows a smooth, dignified approach to dealing with larger patients and we have had really positive feedback from patients and medical professionals.”
The Harrier LT LBS Bariatric Trolley is the only electro-hydraulic trolley in the UK pre-hospital market that will lift a patient of 350kg. This minimises the effort needed for patient transport while protecting medical staff from any potential ergonomic problems.
The Pegasus Stretcher Trolley is suitable for use on ramped or tail-lift vehicles, fully compliant with the ‘lock and load’ two-part vehicle locking system, and has standard drop down foot end for use with PTS vehicles, making it one of the most versatile patient transfer trolleys on the market.

Ferno features in Big Body Squad

Ferno has a starring role in the latest series of Channel 5’s Big Body Squad which follows the men and women whose job it is to look after the nation and its ‘growing needs’.
With nearly a million morbidly obese people in England, ambulance teams, fire crews, carers, and others are having to adapt to be able to provide a service for Britain’s ‘Big Society’.
As regular readers of the Ferno Blog will know we have developed a wide range of specialist bariatric equipment including ambulance trolleys, wheel chairs, evacuation chairs and hospital trolleys to help medical staff safely transport obese patients.

The eagle eyed among you should be able to spot Ferno’s kit throughout the series which appears each Tuesday on Channel 5 at 10.00 – look out for Harrier Trolleys in the latest episode on the Channel5 website.

The number of morbidly obese people in England has doubled since 2000 and in the next ten years it is predicted that more than a third of people in England will be obese.
As a result over the past ten years we have developed a range of bariatric equipment to help hospitals and the emergency services safely deal with larger patients, as well as allowing for a more dignified approach. The success of our equipment means Ferno products feature prominently in several medical dramas and documentaries - Big Body Squad is just our latest starring role.
Big Body Squad will follow the supersized ambulance teams, fire crews, equipment specialists and carers across the UK as they deal with the associated complications and risks that come with mobilising an obese nation.

All change for Scottish Ambulance Service

The Scottish Ambulance Service - a valued customer of Ferno - has approved detailed proposals for a world class national specialist transport and retrieval service for critically ill NHS patients in Scotland.
The full business case for the project, which is predicted to cost £9.3 million per year, has been submitted to the Scottish Government for evaluation and approval. It will deliver a single integrated national service with a sustainable multidisciplinary medical and clinical team, making best use of the range of road and air transport resources.
Called ScotSTAR, the initiative will see the current three transport and retrieval services; the Scottish Neonatal Service (SNTS), the Transport of Critically Ill and Injured Children Service and the Emergency Medical Retrieval Service, brought together into one national specialist service co-ordinated by the Scottish Ambulance Service.
The Service currently provides transport logistics for all three retrieval teams and is best placed to host and co-ordinate the service for NHS Scotland.
The new service will go live in April 2014 and will have a central base at Glasgow Airport at the new air ambulance centre. This will be enhanced by clinical bases elsewhere in Scotland, defined by clinical and geographical need.
Pauline Howie, Chief Executive, Scottish Ambulance Service said: “The ScotSTAR proposal is the result of a detailed review of all of the specialist transport and retrieval services. It will deliver more flexible and responsive care for critically ill patients across all of Scotland as a genuinely world class service.
“A centralised and co-ordinated approach will create opportunities for greater shared working, training and education of staff and bring efficiencies and consistency to the way in which some of the most critically ill patients are transported.”
The Service undertakes around 2,200 cases every year in Scotland where specialist, highly skilled, clinical teams are required to manage the care of patients during transport by air and road.  These specialised retrievals are usually clinically complex and take much longer than a normal emergency response.

A free ambulance! Is this for real?

What we take for granted in the UK – a free national health service at the point of need and ambulance service that saves our lives at the tax payers expense – is something of a novelty in the rest of the world.
Take this report from the India Express: In the month since the "108" emergency ambulance service rolled out in four districts of Orissa, more people have called up 108 to check if the ambulances are for real than those who have actually sought healthcare.
More than 2.88 lakh calls were received at the control room of the service provider, Mumbai-based Ziqitza Healthcare, between the March 5 launch and April 7. Only 2,523 of them actually needed an ambulance. From 9,000-10,000 a month ago, the daily call count is now down to around 7,000, but incredulity still accounts for most of them. One caller would ask if the service is indeed free, another would ask if the ambulance will come immediately.
"These callers are not choking up the system at the moment as the service is available in just four districts. But we expect the system to feel the pressure once we add 11 more districts," says Dr Pramod Kumar Meherda, managing director of the National Rural Health Mission, which is in charge of the project's overall management.
"On April 2, there were 7,853 calls made to the control room, but 141 callers actually needed the ambulance. Some people have called more than 100 times just to heap abuse on the woman operator at the control room."
Tarun Verma, Ziqitza's senior manager (quality and marketing), says, "One can understand their curiosity, but the frivolous callers could be blocking needy ones."
The arrival of an ambulance is assured in 20 minutes in urban areas and in 35 minutes in rural areas. On March 18, Sunita Khara, 21, of Tikarpara in Koraput delivered her baby in an ambulance. Sunil Kumar of Bhubaneswar too called 108 when his sister had labour pains. "The ambulance reached within 10-12 minutes. Had I called a hospital ambulance (the state has 200), it would have reached an hour later."
With GPS technology, the control room in Bhubaneswar sends a message to the vehicle nearest the patient. The ambulance then rushes the patient to any of 129 government health institutions. Around 80 per cent of the ambulances are designated Basic Life Support for routine complications, while the rest are Advanced Life Support ones for critical patients.

We are recruiting!

Hit the phones, develop customer relationships and grow your B2B sales. It’s as simple as that – or to the right person it is!

·         Can you sell high performance, state-of-the-art products into a wide range of markets?

·         Have you delivered results through outbound telesales?

·         Are you a motivated, self-starter?

·         Do you thrive on meeting targets?

If the answer is yes, then send us your CV.  

Ferno is a world leading innovator, manufacturer and supplier of medical equipment, ensuring the best care and comfort for patients and promoting the safety and well-being of health and medical service professionals.

Attractive bonus scheme as well as basic salary.

For more details of the role and the company, please contact Karen Stringer, our Commercial Manager at kstringer@ferno.co.uk