Connectivity
South East Coast Ambulance Service case study: Smart Messaging
How BT’s Smart Messaging solution, powered by Soprano, helped the South East Coast Ambulance Service save time, money and lives.
February 23, 2026
4 minutes
Some callers no longer needed an ambulance by the time help was on the way, but didn’t always inform SECAmb. This meant crews were being dispatched unnecessarily, costing valuable time, money, and resources that could have been directed to patients who needed urgent care.
BT and Soprano’s Smart Messaging service was introduced to send callers an SMS confirming that an ambulance was on its way, while also giving them the option to cancel with a simple reply.
Since adopting Smart Messaging, SECAmb has saved a substantial amount of time and resources. The solution has also delivered significant cost efficiencies, allowing more funding to be directed toward the communities SECAmb supports.
The challenge
The South East Coast Ambulance Service (SECAmb) serves 3,600 square miles across multiple counties in South East England. This area includes densely populated urban areas like Brighton, very rural areas, and some of the busiest stretches of motorway in the country.
When a call is made to 999, an operator takes down details and assesses the critical level of the situation before sending an ambulance. However, things can change in the moments after the call ends.
A friend or family member may arrive to take the caller to A&E immediately. With the focus being on getting treatment as soon as possible, informing 999 about this update often won’t happen, and an ambulance will still be dispatched.
This can add additional pressure particularly at times of high demand and lead to lost time and costs when a SECAmb ambulance is no longer required or if the person is no longer at the property.
Attempting to gain entry to ensure that nobody is inside and unconscious may result in other emergency services being called to help gain entry as well as legal and insurance claims.
This meant that SECAmb was losing time, money and resources due to an inability to communicate with service users. They were also potentially taking longer to get to others in need.
The solution
To tackle these challenges, SECAmb introduced BT’s Smart Messaging solution, powered by Soprano, for both 999 and 111 callers. The service sends an SMS confirming that an ambulance is on its way and gives callers the option to reply with ‘cancel’ if help is no longer required.
By integrating the Smart Messaging platform directly with its Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) system, SECAmb enabled seamless two‑way SMS communication. This allows patients to quickly confirm whether they still need assistance or cancel an ambulance if their circumstances have changed.
The result
BT’s Smart Messaging service has enabled ambulances to be rerouted where needed and help reduce waiting times across the region. It has also prevented a significant number of insurance claims and legal costs.
Over the past six months, SECAmb has saved 4,000 hours of clinical time, which resulted in 12,000 callouts cancelled and achieved cost savings of £60,000.
We have had such a successful deployment of this service, working in partnership with BT and Soprano, and we’re now looking to the future with hopes to further improve services at SECAmb. This includes looking at areas like Rich Communications Service (RCS) features which offer read receipts and AI chatbot capabilities.
