Clinical Response Model

Since 1974 our ambulance service has been measured by the time it takes to reach emergency calls. The ambulance service of today provides much more sophisticated care and therefore, in 2015, the Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust (WAST) trialled a new response model that focused on the quality of care provided rather than the time it took us to reach you.

If you’re suffering with a life-threatening emergency such as a cardiac arrest or major blood loss, WAST will still send the nearest available resources as fast as possible. For less serious conditions, WAST are measured on how well they treat you and how often they manage to avert a trip to hospital by referring you to the most appropriate clinical setting. This clinical response model aims to put the patient at the very centre of WAST's work.

Clinical Response Model Categories

RED: Immediately life threatening calls such as cardiac arrest or choking. These calls will be subject to both clinical indicators such as Return of Spontaneous Circulation (ROSC) rates and a time based standard requiring a minimum attendance at 65% of these calls within 8 minutes. 

Quality Indicator: 8 minute response time within 65%.

AMBER: Serious but not immediately life threatening. These calls will include most medical and trauma cases such as chest pain and fractures. Amber calls will receive an emergency response. A response profile has been created to ensure that the most suitable clinical resource is dispatched to each amber call. This will include management via “hear & treat” services over the telephone. Patient experience and clinical indicator data will be used to evaluate the effectiveness of the ambulance response to amber calls. 

Quality Indicator: Compliance with care bundles i.e. for cardiac and stroke

GREEN: 999 calls received and categorised as green are neither serious or life threatening. Conditions such as earache or minor injuries are coded as green calls. Green calls are ideally suited to management via secondary telephone triage. 

Quality Indicator: Clinical outcomes and patient satisfaction for 999.

GREEN HCP: Health Care Professionals (HCP) such as doctors, midwives or community hospitals often require an urgent transfer of a patient from low acuity care to a higher acuity facility. These transfers are coded as green calls and undertaken within a timeframe agreed with the requesting HCP. 

Quality Indicator: Compliance with HCP 1-4 hour agreed admission timescales for HCP calls.