Call categories

All ambulance calls in the UK are categorised into three broad types, emergency or 999 calls, urgent calls, routine calls.

Emergency or 999 Calls

Almost all emergency calls are dealt with by a 'blue-light' response. The only exception to this is where we have been asked to make a discreet approach for clinical reasons or where we are satisfied that there is no immediate clinical urgency. (See Category C below.)
H M Government (through the Department of Health) sets standards and targets for each ambulance service to achieve. 999 calls are sub-divided into three categories.

Category A

Category A calls are those life-threatening conditions where the speed of response may be critical in saving life or improving the outcome for the patient, e.g. heart attack, serious bleeding, etc.

Every effort is made to get a responder to these incidents as quickly as possible. Ideally this would be an ambulance every time. However, on some occasions (particularly in outlying areas) a first responder will be dispatched whilst an ambulance is traveling to the call.

A first responder might be a member of staff who has made themselves available outside of normal working hours or a member of a Community Response Scheme. All such responders are trained to deliver life-saving skills e.g. defibrillation, pending the arrival of the ambulance.

Category A standard: 75% of all Category A calls should be reached within 8 minutes of the call being made. if the first response is not a fully-crewed ambulance then an ambulance should arrive within 19 minutes.

Category C

Category C calls are made up of four sub categories of those conditions which need to be attended quickly, but which will not deteriorate or suffer by a slightly slower response. Or non life threatening conditions which are generally assistance calls in which someone needs help - perhaps to get up following a fall where no injury has been sustained - or where a minor or non-clinical issue is the prime cause for the call.

Although the Trust will always try to help and at least give appropriate advice, it should be remembered that some Category C calls may not warrant the attendance of the ambulance service.

Urgent

An urgent call can only be requested by a doctor (usually a GP) or a midwife. The response is tailored to each individual patient's need as determined by the doctor requesting the ambulance.

It is important to appreciate that although the patient is often termed an 'emergency admission' as far as the hospital is concerned, it is not neccessarily dealt with as a 999 call by the ambulance service. In other words a doctor may arrange an 'emergency admission' to hospital but give the ambulance service two hours or more to carry out the journey.

The standard is to get 95% of patients to the hospital within 15 minutes of the time specified by the doctor when booking the ambulance.

Routine calls

are booked days, or even weeks, in advance. They are usually carried out by Patient Transport Services of the Trust although occasionally an emergency ambulance may be involved.
These calls are generally for taking people to and from out-patient or day hospital patients when no other method of transport is possible.