Notting Hill Carnival Strategic Review - Intelligent Space

more achievable. The Review Group felt that the success of the new plan provided the
Carnival organisers with a good basis upon which to build a more robust and effective event
management and planning framework that could include the use of information technology to
share vital information with stakeholders, the use of performance contracts to ensure
compliance and the development of a body of knowledge about the Carnival that would act as
a resource for training, planning and evaluation purposes.
Casualty Rates at Carnival
2.39 As part of its commitment to the Notting Hill Carnival, SJA provides over 250 volunteers each
day, comprising doctors, nurses, paramedics and first aiders, together with an estimated £1
million worth of equipment and vehicles. The overall mission of SJA is to provide:
• a safe and appropriate management of any person who becomes ill or injured at the
Carnival.
• care and support to those who seek their help.
• aid to the Statutory Authority by providing Ambulances and Forward Incident Teams to
assist in the core function of the LAS, throughout the Carnival area.
2.40 This is achieved through the provision of:
• an effective command and control system.
• strategically located treatment centres
• strategically deployed personnel with a range of specialist skills
• ambulances and a range of appropriately equipped specialist vehicles
2.41 Due to the density of the crowds at Carnival, it is impractical for 999 calls to be responded to
by ambulance vehicles. In 1990 SJA introduced and developed a ‘Forward Incident Team’,
initially solely for the Carnival, with the ability to access casualties quickly on foot. The team
is now a vital resource for many events as its training, equipment and safety clothing allow its
members to effectively move within the densest of crowds and work with casualties. After
diagnosis and any immediate care, the team either move the casualty to a Treatment Centre or
to a rendezvous point to meet an ambulance vehicle for removal to hospital. For the past six
years, LAS have provided a paramedic to accompany each Forward Incident Team. This
approach has led to a reduction in the time taken from a 999 call being received by LAS to the
time a SJA team reaches the casualty. The average response time is 8.5 minutes.
2.42 To reduce vehicle movements further, and to assist with the casualty influx on hospitals, SJA
have established an Advanced Treatment Centre, which has been operating for the past eight
years. This provides facilities and appropriately trained nursing and other specialist staff for
suturing, other medical interventions and the stabilisation of critical casualties. In 2000, the
centre successfully treated 30 casualties who would have required hospitalisation in traditional
circumstances. In total, SJA treated 650 casualties and conveyed 107 to hospital that year.
2.43 Casualty rates fell in 2001 (495 casualties, of which 77 were taken to hospital) and 2002 (425
casualties, of which 63 were taken to hospital). However, 2003 saw a significant rise in the
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