Hamburg/Weingarten, 04/12/2023 – The Bodensee-Oberschwaben rescue service of the German Red Cross will in future plan its qualified patient transports with the opheo transport management system. The new system is intended to improve quality and minimize empty runs, waiting times, CO2 emissions and costs. In addition to the software licenses, the contract now concluded also includes subsequent support as part of a maintenance agreement.
opheo combines route planning, route optimization and telematics in a transport management and dispatch system that has previously been used primarily in truck dispatch. Now it is being adapted for passenger transport for the first time. The conversion at Rettungsdienst Bodensee-Oberschwaben gGmbH is scheduled to be completed in the 4th quarter of this year in cooperation with Solvares Logistics (formerly opheo Solutions GmbH).
Dispatch of 30 patient transport vehicles
The control center in the DRK Rettungsdienst Bodensee-Oberschwaben has 30 patient transport vehicles. With these, the service carries out around 250 transport orders every day in the predominantly rural regions of the three districts of Bodenseekreis, Sigmaringen and Ravensburg. The planning is carried out by three dispatchers. They are currently only supported by a telematics system that displays the current GPS vehicle positions.
opheo will use the existing telematics solution and the tablet computers assigned to the vehicles, which means that there will be no additional investment during the conversion. Based on the GPS position data, the system calculates the extent to which the planned tours match the actual route. “opheo will not only support our dispatchers in planning optimized tours, but will also provide early warnings if there are deviations from the plan,” explains Managing Director Volker Geier.
Early reaction to deviations from the plan possible
Deviations from the plan occur not only in the event of traffic jams or accidents, but above all due to patients who are not ready to leave and the associated waiting times. The resulting delays in subsequent transports in turn lead to callbacks to the control center, which results in a considerable amount of work. With the help of opheo’s intelligent algorithms for predictive planning, the Bodensee-Oberschwaben rescue service will be able to react early and efficiently to impending delays in the future and adapt the current tour planning for all vehicles to the new circumstances.
The changed tour and order data can then be sent directly from opheo’s dispatch cockpit to the vehicles’ tablets at the touch of a button. The same applies to the patient transport orders that arrive additionally during the day: These are automatically assigned by opheo to the most suitable vehicle and sent. This not only reduces delays, but also empty runs, the rate of which is currently still 54 percent. In addition, opheo monitors compliance with working and break times, which are taken into account in all planning.
Start with test operation after the summer vacations
For the drivers of the 30 patient transport vehicles, the software introduction will not change anything, except that their tours will be planned and controlled more efficiently. They will continue to receive their orders via their tablet and will be supported by the integrated navigation when driving to the next patient. opheo is scheduled to go into test operation at the DRK after the summer vacations. The start of productive operation is scheduled for the 4th quarter of this year.
Further information at: https://www.drk-bos.de/
