Community first responders attended just eight of more than 12,000 emergency incidents in Jersey last year, new figures have revealed.
The number of callouts involving the volunteers has fallen sharply since the covid-19 pandemic, prompting the States of Jersey Ambulance Service to review the scheme.
A response to a request for data made under the Freedom of Information Law showed that Community First Responders attended 23 incidents in 2023, falling to ten in 2024 and eight in 2025.
Four incidents involved a first responder during the first six months of this year.
The decline came despite the number of emergencies attended by the Ambulance Service rising from 11,105 in 2023 to 11,653 in 2024 and 12,173 last year. Crews attended a further 6,145 incidents between January and June 2026.
Health and Care Jersey said: “Emergency incident attendance by Community First Responders has declined following the covid-19 pandemic.”
It added that the service was “in the process of reviewing and updating” the scheme.
The nationally approved initiative was introduced in Jersey in July 2022 and operates entirely through volunteers. Responders use the GoodSam app to record their availability and receive alerts about nearby emergencies.
They are dispatched ahead of ambulance crews and trained to provide care during the crucial first moments of an emergency.
At the scheme’s launch, senior paramedic Jason Hamon said it focused particularly on the most serious calls, including suspected heart attacks.
“The first few moments are vital in these circumstances and the purpose of CFRs is to ensure help gets to the most needy, as quickly as possible,” he said.
…The purpose of CFRs is to ensure help gets to the most needy, as quickly as possible
Across the three-and-a-half-year period covered by the FOI, first responders attended 45 incidents. These included 25 breathing emergencies, 12 cases involving unconsciousness or fainting and seven cardiac or respiratory arrests or deaths.
Jersey has no separate “Emergency Responder” volunteer scheme, and Community First Responders are not sent to paediatric patients.
