Mobile Data Terminals (MDT) and Automatic Vehicle Locators (AVL)
provide call data information and limited patient information to the crew
and a very limited method of two-way communication, while the AVL feeds
back the GPS location of the ambulance via cellular radio to central
comms for vehicle tracking. Tele-pagers are still carried by the ambulance
crew as a fall-back and crew notification service. Analogue 2-way radio is
also used between the ambulance and their dispatcher to maintain voice
communication, but this is often unreliable in areas of poor reception, and
does present a barrier to maintaining patient confidentiality3,4.