The In Life Service Team helps 11 Ambulance Trusts with their communication systems. They make sure everything works well and coordinate different suppliers. The team also has people who plan for the future.
Starting in 2005, the ARP In Life Service team was established to provide assurance of the services provided by Airwave Solutions Ltd to the 11 Ambulance Trusts under the Airwave managed service contract with the Department of Health & Social Care. These services include the provision of the dedicated Airwave radio network, together with emergency control room and vehicle-based communication systems
The role of the In Life Service Team was to ensure, on behalf of the Ambulance Trusts, that the supplier (Airwave) met its performance obligations under the contract and that those services continued to meet the evolving needs of the Trusts. The ARP In Life Service function comprised of Trust-dedicated Regional Service Managers and a small central team.
With the ongoing end of the control room and vehicle-based communication system elements of the Airwave contract, and the need to replace those systems with new systems and new suppliers, the role of the ARP In Life Service Team has grown significantly. The ARP has developed new, nationally-based control room and vehicle-based communication systems and has sourced them directly from multiple suppliers. These new services are currently being rolled out to Ambulance Trusts and, in some cases, to devolved partner agencies in Wales and Scotland.
The role of the In Life Service Team has expanded to be directly responsible to Trusts for all elements of the service management process. This includes Incident Management, 24/7/365 Service Desk, Change Management, and other support activities. The team coordinates and seamlessly integrates the support activities of all the new suppliers and provides ongoing assurance to Trusts of the service support for the new services.
To achieve this, the ARP In Life Service team has put in place an expanded team of Service Managers to look after the service support to Trusts and also another team, specifically focused on managing, assuring, and coordinating the service support performance from the new suppliers. These activities are underpinned by a significantly strengthened Central Service Team who are taking over many of the responsibilities previously carried out by the legacy supplier and, in many cases, designing and implementing new systems and processes to better support our Ambulance Trusts.
The In Life Service Team now includes a dedicated programme team of project managers, focused on future additional service support responsibilities which will move from the legacy supplier to ARP, such as asset management and radio terminal management.