Assess, prioritise and manage emergency service calls
Overview
This standard is about assessing, prioritising and managing emergency and non emergency calls to emergency services from members of the public. It is about dealing with these calls to give appropriate advice and information to the caller in order to provide the best possible help and assistance to deal with the situation they are faced with.
Those handling calls will deal with a varied nature of enquiries and requests for help and assistance. Call handlers should respond to callers with respect and dignity, offering the most up to date advice or instruction whilst ensuring they are following the appropriate procedures and protocols for their own service.
Performance criteria
You must be able to:
- Operate appropriate telephony and computerised systems when taking calls from members of the public, colleagues or partners
- Receive and register calls to emergency service from members of the public, colleagues or partners in accordance with organisational procedures
- Establish the nature of the call using recognised questioning and listening techniques and collate information in accordance with your organisational procedures
- Respond to callers in ways that are appropriate to the situation and its urgency and that meets the needs of the caller in accordance with your organisational procedures
- Assess the situation based on the information provided in order to decide upon the best course of action
- Redirect calls to others when it is appropriate to do so in accordance with organisational procedures
- Provide up to date, appropriate and comprehensive instruction or advice on their situation whilst helping to minimise the risk of harm to the caller and relevant others
- Manage the callers expectation and advise that help has been arranged whilst ensuring their safety
- Confirm that the caller understands what is happening and what the next steps are in ways that meet their needs
- Seek support from relevant others on unfamiliar or complex situations in accordance with organisational procedures and within the remit of your role
- Refer the call to appropriate others depending on own assessment of the situation whilst following escalation processes
- Record and store interactions with callers and others in accordance with legal, regulatory and organisational procedures
Knowledge and Understanding
You need to know and understand:
1. Legal, organisational and policy requirements relevant to your role, the role of others in your organisation and the activities being carried out
2. The relevant national and local guidelines, policies and procedures available and how and when they should be accessed
3. The duty to report any information that could be detrimental to individuals, yourself, colleagues or organisation
4. Remit and limits of your role and responsibilities and the limits of your authority
5. Roles and responsibilities of others in order to determine the best course of action required
6. The timeline for dealing with incidents
7. Where to seek support following a particularly difficult or challenging call or situation
8. Why it is important to allow yourself time to reflect on difficult or challenging calls or situations
9. How to identify major and critical incidents and appropriate action to take
10. How to refer calls or involve others when you are unable to deal with it yourself
11. How and when it is necessary to escalate incidents to other services and the range of actions and responses that might be taken
12. Range of information to be collated and how to respond
13. Organisational polices and procedures for dealing with hoax and nuisance calls
14. Effective communication techniques to use when dealing with callers including;
- adapting communication style to meet the needs of the caller
- building rapport and demonstrating empathy
- how to effectively utilise questioning and listening skills and techniques
- how to manage challenging calls and situations
15. How to carry out assessment of the situation in order to understand what options are available and what action to take
16. How to prioritise incidents and deal with them as quickly as possible
17. Relevant and up to date guidance and information appropriate to your organisation to assist callers with the situation they may be faced with
18. Organisational procedures for providing advice and information to callers and partners relevant to their situation and your organisation
19. Decision making techniques including how to make decisions in critical situations in accordance with your role and organisational procedures
20. How to give advice and what advice is relevant to give callers in line with your remit and service
21. How to give clear and accurate instruction to callers and to check their understanding of the information relayed to them
22. When to seek for advice from others
23. Incidents relevant to your sector including comprehension of:
- Complex terminology
- Identification of the type and potential consequences of each type of incident and the types of responses that could be given
- Critical advice / instructions to be provided to callers in response to specific types of incidents
24. The purpose of reflective practice and evaluation and how it informs your practice
25. Sector requirements and good practice guidance for the development and maintenance of knowledge, skills and competence
26. The relevant health and safety legislation and advice to be followed to ensure risk to callers is minimised in accordance with organisational procedures
27. Legal, regulatory and organisational requirements and procedures for recording, storing and retrieving records
28. Where to report any technological incidents in relation to computerised and telephony systems