'Video calls would make 999 service more inclusive'

A student is calling for emergency calls to implement video calling to make them more accessible

An East Sussex student is calling for emergency services to introduce video in 999 calls to improve accessibility.

Daniel Burton, who is autistic, said adding video calls would help people who struggle with communicating over the phone to speak to emergency call handlers.

Daniel, from St Leonards, said: "It's a really inclusive idea."

He added: "If I could video call it would be beneficial to people like me – handlers could see people involved and I could talk to them."

Daniel, who said he was non-verbal at an early age, started his campaign after having trouble communicating with emergency services during an incident.

He said that, after seeing his neighbour get punched by another person outside his home, he used an emergency SMS texting service to contact police.

Despite also requesting an ambulance through the service, he said that when police arrived he was later told that call handlers had not requested an ambulance.

After contacting the Sussex Police and Crime Commissioner's office, who passed his message to the force, Daniel says he was told that while video calls were not a service which was offered by Sussex Police, it was possible.

A study led by the University of Surrey and including South East Coast Ambulance Service in 2024 found that giving ambulance dispatchers the ability to view footage from incident live streamed from mobile phones is "feasible to implement and evaluate" and could aid decision making.

Services enabling people with hearing difficulties or those who use British Sign Language (BSL) are already available and widely used.

Other systems include the Pegasus Scheme, which allows emergency services to access pre-registered information about callers to help them communicate.

A Sussex Police spokesperson said: "Everyone should be able to access help when they need it, and we're committed to ensuring our service is accessible for all and that support is in place for anyone who may have additional needs.

"As a force, we subscribe to the Government's Disability Confident Scheme and are committed to continuous development, meaning where there are opportunities to make changes or improvements, they will be explored."