Award delights emergency services project team

Months of hard work was recognised last month when a joint emergency services entry won a top public service award.

The InterCAD project, which electronically linked the Fire, Ambulance and Police Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) systems, won the Excellence in Networked Government category of the annual Institute of Public Administration of New Zealand awards.

Police Communications Centres National Manager Superintendent Andy McGregor and his counterparts in Fire and Ambulance accepted the award on behalf of their respective agencies.

“We’re delighted with the win,” Andy says. “This was a complex project and it’s great recognition of the hard work done by ICT, the Communications Centres, staff in the other agencies and our technology vendors in getting InterCAD off the ground and functioning successfully.”

Winners of the Networked Government category of the 2010 IPANZ awards are from left: John Dorey (Wellington Free Ambulance Executive Manager, HR); Superintendent Andy McGregor (National Manager, Police Communications Centres); Stephen Willson (Intergraph New Zealand); Christopher Brice (Public Sector Director, Microsoft NZ); Bill Butzbach (Assistant National Fire Commander); and Colin Lawrence (Emergency Ambulance Communications Centres Service Development and Contracts Manager). Photo: Lance Lawson

An unexpected benefit of the InterCAD project is the increased engagement between the three agencies. Groups of operational staff who worked on the project continue to meet to resolve the day-to-day operational issues that arise when three quite different agencies are working together.

Since InterCAD was implemented in July last year, approximately 72,000 events have been electronically transferred between the Fire, Ambulance and Police Communications Centres.

“That’s significant because before InterCAD, all that information would have been transferred by phone,” Andy says. “There was always the potential for inaccuracies to creep in and having to repeat information was difficult for callers in stressful situations.

“With InterCAD, we’re quicker off the mark and it helps us provide a more efficient and effective service to the public.”