Newcastle software company launches tech to reduce paperwork for air ambulance service

A Newcastle-based software company has launched a dedicated new brand to help businesses go digital, as they continue to grow in the healthcare space.

Surge Technologies Ltd, partnered with the Great North Air Ambulance who were looking to keep a digital log of all the work they do including individual patient interactions. Historically many services using paper patient records had to spend long periods of time gathering the information needed for clinical governance reporting.

The company developed ARCEMS, a system that enables paramedics to capture patient details wherever they are working via a dedicated mobile app.

Following the continued growth and evolution of their software Surge have recently launched a brand new sub-brand Surge MedTech.

Bruce Watson, chief commercial officer, Surge, said: “Following some of the great traction we’ve had over the past few years we feel the time is right to have a dedicated brand in the MedTech space in order to raise further awareness of our software.

“It’s an exciting time as we’ve just launched our new website and have already begun work on the next evolution of our software.”

Following successful roll-outs at the Great North Air Ambulance, Lincs & Notts Air Ambulance and Hampshire and Isle of Wight Air Ambulance, the ARCEMS software evolved to help in the area of critical care patient transfers and the new ARCCTS software was born.

Tim West, HEMS paramedic at Great North Air Ambulance Service, said, “One of the other best things is the ability to be able to audit really quickly as the data is there on tap, so as a clinician it helps save us a lot of time. ARCEMS has made quality assurance a less arduous task and has helped with compliance.”

Retrieve South West began using the software during the pandemic. Scott Grier, head, Retrieve South West said: “At times of significant pressure on our service during the recent pandemic wave, their support was an important part of our service’s ability to deliver critical care transfer to patients in the South West and beyond.”