Paramedics in Oxfordshire are the first to use a £56,000 satellite navigation system to speed up 999 response times.

Smart Dispatch has been installed in 30 Oxfordshire Ambulance Trust vehicles and has already helped slice an average of one minute off journey times.

The technology uses longitude and latitude references to pinpoint exact destinations -- even if the call has come from a motorway lay-by or the middle of a field -- and guides staff directly to patients, preventing the need for them to check maps for the quickest routes.

By helping to improve response times, Smart Dispatch has allowed paramedics to keep to Government guidelines, which state 75 per cent of all life-threatening calls should be reached within eight minutes. Oxfordshire Ambulance Trust chief executive John Nichols said: "It means that we don't have to base all of our vehicles in one area. They can be placed strategically across the county and be used more effectively to respond to calls."

Smart Dispatch works by sending details of a 999 call to dashboard computers on board frontline ambulances and response cars.

Central dispatch workers can relay information from a 999 call to an ambulance in under two seconds. A talking map, with a "friendly" female voice, then tells the driver exactly how to get to the caller's location.