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We are a community First Responder group and part of the LIVES (Lincolnshire Integrated Voluntary Emergency Services) Charity. We volunteer and work alongside and in support of EMAS (East Midlands Ambulance Service). 

We all receive advanced training and then when on standby are deployed to answer 999 calls for the ambulance service seeking to arrive at the casualty within six (6) minutes, before an ambulance. We then stabilize the scene and casualty until the paramedics arrive and take over. 

We are all volunteers and have to fund raise and provide our own equipment, vehicles and fuel. St. Giles is the busiest unit within the county of Lincolnshire answering an average of 25-30 calls a week, 120 calls a month. Additionally, although based on the St. Giles estate in reality our area covers the entirety of the city of Lincoln, out as far as North and South Hykeham, Skellingthorpe, Nettleham, Fiskerton and Cherry William, occasionally even further. Only 5% of our calls are actually on the St. Giles estate. 

There are other First Responder teams through LIVES within the city and surrounding villages but we are the only group who provide 24//7 cover and currently have over 20 crew members. We are always on duty. Christmas and new year, bank Holidays, rain, snow or ice. We also offer an emergency cover for elderly and disabled residents through remote monitored alarm systems via the city Council. If an alarm is triggered we will attend to perform a welfare check and provide medical assistance if needed. We also answer calls in the city centre at night to support the night time economy and deploy a team on foot into the city centre to answer calls during busy shopping periods. 

The costs of providing such a service are obviously substantial as none of our equipment or costs are provided by the NHS, the ambulance service or any other agency. Fuel costs alone are reaching £100 per week, our consumables for dressings, oxygen masks etc. run to £60 per month, training costs are about £150 per responder per year; uniform can costs £80 per responder.

St. Giles is the most deprived estate in Lincolnshire and the third most deprived in the East Midlands, our community fully supports the work we do but cannot meet the financial commitments of such a needed and busy team. Our responders are dedicated, hardworking, professional and committed but we desperately need help to support and maintain the team. In only 18 months we have answered over 2000 999 calls - First Responders are only deployed by the ambulance service to Red 1 & 2 calls (those that are life threatening or serious) and with the stresses on the ambulance service we often ambulance units to back us up. Our responders are so busy that it is almost routine for them to bounce from one call to the next without being able to return home for several hours.