On 26 October 1992 the London Ambulance Service started to use a new computer-assisted dispatch (CAD) system, known as LASCAD.[1] Poorly designed and implemented, its introduction led to significant delays in the assigning of ambulances - before the system eventually crashed,[2][3] with anecdotal reports of 11-hour waits. Media reports at the time claimed that up to 30 people may have died as a result of the chaos, despite a lack of evidence. The then-chief executive, John Wilby, resigned shortly afterwards.[4] This failure is often cited in case studies of poor engineering management.[5]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ Nick Plant. "University of the West of England: "LASCAD Case Study"". Cems.uwe.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 1 August 2012. Retrieved 11 June 2009.
  2. ^ Dalcher, D. (1999). "Disaster in London. The LAS case study". Proceedings ECBS'99. IEEE Conference and Workshop on Engineering of Computer-Based Systems. pp. 41–52. doi:10.1109/ECBS.1999.755860. ISBN 0-7695-0028-5.
  3. ^ "Personal Computer World: Ambulances won't crash again". Pcw.co.uk. 12 June 1997. Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 11 June 2009.
  4. ^ Department of the Official Report (Hansard), House of Commons, Westminster (28 October 1992). "House of Commons Hansard debates for 28th October 2002". Publications.parliament.uk. Retrieved 11 June 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  5. ^ Mike Dahlin. "Coping with complexity - Jerome H. Saltzer (MIT)" (PDF). Advice to systems researchers. Department of Computer Science, University of Texas at Austin. Retrieved 2 December 2010.

Further reading

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