The South Western Ambulance Service NHS Foundation Trust (SWASFT) is using Virtual Reality (VR) technology to give incident commanders an immersive training experience to test their knowledge, skills and decision making in a realistic environment.

Incident experiences include multi-vehicle road traffic collisions, flooding, and terrorist attacks.

Trainees wear VR headsets and a joystick gives a three-dimensional moving image with realistic sound effects and voice injects, which replicates a live incident. 

The commanders use information, intelligence, risk assessments, plans, and procedures to assess an incident, to enable them and the wider Trust to develop the strategy and tactics for dealing with it.

SWASFT is also looking to use this technology in other areas of the Trust, such as the Emergency Operations Centres, where 999 calls are received.

Mark Harwood, command development officer and paramedic, who provides the training said: “We are proud to be the first ambulance trust in the country who is providing this type of virtual reality training.

“As a Trust, we continue to work hard to develop the care we provide to our patients, by using innovation tactics to better equip our people.”

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