A NEW partnership between Gwent Police and the Welsh Ambulance Service is aiming to save both lives and money.

The two organisations launched the Joint Response Unit last month in July after research showed 2,249 incidents between October 2015 and March 2016 were attended by both police and paramedics.

Under the new scheme, a paramedic and a special constable select specific emergencies in the Aneurin Bevan Health Board area to attend together in a specially marked Land Rover.

During the first month of the pilot project members of the unit attended 72 incidents, only needing backup from an ambulance 15 times and the trust’s urgent care service five times.

Project lead with the ambulance service Chris Hughes said this meant ambulance crews and police officers were freed up to attend other, potentially life-threatening, incidents.

“All of the police’s workload is passed through the radio so, for example, say if they were asking any units to attend a car accident in Blackwood then our ears prick up and we can start making our way,” he said.

“We attend lots of RTCs (road traffic collisions) we have the information live and what we’re doing is updating both the ambulance and police control rooms, so they already have the job open from us and know they’ve already got someone en route.

“It’s good for us as we’ve got the special constable there who can man the police radio, who knows the terminology and can help us to communicate with police officers at the scene of incidents.”

The scheme currently runs on three 12-hour shifts on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, when the emergency services typically experience their greatest demand.

Mr Hughes said: “The police are noticing a reduction in lost hours on scene, so we’re freeing up officers who are in high demand on the weekend.

“They might only be waiting ten minutes for us so when we get there, as long as the scene is safe and secure to work in, the police officers can leave there and go to other incidents leaving myself and the special officer at the scene so they still have a police presence.

“They will obviously stay if there was a concern for our safety or for somebody to go to custody.

“It’s not the particular job we’re going to, but the availability we’re freeing up for the police and ambulance services.”

Gwent Police chief inspector Nick McLain said: “Partnership working is at the cornerstone of everything we do and allows us to provide an enhanced service to people in need.

“On completion of this pilot, we will be in a position to evaluate the impact of this project, to ensure we are providing value for money and improving the satisfaction and confidence of the communities we serve.”

The pilot will run until the start of October, when its success will be evaluated.