A NEW mobile phone application is set to help ambulance staff determine which hospital they should be taking patients to.

Devised by Els Freshwater, South Central Ambulance Service paramedic and trainee consultant practitioner, the Trauma Triage Tool app aims to ensure crews always take critically injured trauma patients to the right hospital, based on their condition and location.

It uses GPS to locate the scene of the incident that ambulance crews are responding to. After the condition of the patient is confirmed, the app then recommends to crews the best trauma centre or unit in the area.

It also suggests alternative hospital options, based on distance and estimated travel time by road. Crews can also use the app to record important patient information.

Mark Ainsworth-Smith, Consultant Pre-Hospital Care Practitioner and SCAS Lead for Trauma, said: "The app has undergone extensive testing and we’re delighted with the results. It giveslocal people the added reassurance that at times of serious or critical injury, our emergency crews have an additional resource to ensure that patients get the right care at the right place every time."

The Trauma Tool app is already available within the Apple iTunes store and an Android version is already in development with an expected release date early in 2014.