Frequentis: Maintaining support for the emergency services
16th Apr 2020
As a safety-critical communications specialist, the work of Frequentis is essential for critical infrastructure and the emergency services and our teams remain available to our customers so that they can sustain their operations. A member of the LifeX team has also volunteered his time to support the UK National Health Service (NHS) with critical training.
Hidden talent
Frequentis Project Manager, Gary Hardacre, has been able to put his past experience with the UK Ambulance Service to use during this critical time, to support the NHS volunteers with required training.
As a former Ambulance Service Senior Manager, specialising in resilience management, Gary, who supports the Frequentis LifeX Project for the Police Service of Scotland, has been able to use his own time, whilst not involved in Frequentis work, to support his former NHS colleagues with the Covid-19 pressures.
Gary’s previous experience was remembered by Stephen Groves OBE, National Head of Emergency Preparedness, Resilience and Response, NHS England and Incident Director to the Covid-19 Response. Stephen then made direct contact with Gary to seek assistance.
With the scale of the pandemic affecting all aspects of the NHS, Gary is assisting by providing a series of existing training sessions for NHS England Staff who have volunteered to support the co-ordination of the NHS response. Gary added: “The can do-attitude of the NHS Team across the entire Country is amazing and it is only right that I contribute where I can, even if that is just a little.”
Business as usual
The Frequentis Group serves customers across the world, year-round, regularly working remotely and from home, so the impact on daily work has been minimal. All emergency services control rooms are fully supported and, in some cases, for example in Norway where call volumes were up to five times higher, the team has been able to provide system extensions to support the increased demand.
Especially in a critical situation such as this, it is an enormous benefit to be able to rely on the strong and stable relationships with customers and share knowledge as circumstances progress.
The health and safety of Frequentis employees is a priority and ensuring that they can care for their children and families. The IT department has ensured that face to face meetings were easily replaced with skype conference calls and over 6,600 telephone conferences were recorded, with almost 26000 participants over a seven-day period at the end of March. IT works without interruption and restrictions.
Frequentis is available to all customers and looks forward to overcoming this crisis together.
For more information on our COVID measurements visit: https://www.frequentis.com/en/covid19