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Indicator Glossary

Ambulance Quality Indicator Glossary

 

Number Term Definition
1 65th Percentile A percentile (or a centile) is a measure used in statistics indicating the value below which a given percentage of observations in a group of observations fall. For example, the 65th percentile is the value below which 65 percent of the observations may be found.
2 95th Percentile A percentile (or a centile) is a measure used in statistics indicating the value below which a given percentage of observations in a group of observations fall. For example, the 95th percentile is the value below which 95 percent of the observations may be found.
3 999 Emergency telephone service operated by telephony providers such as BT, allowing anyone to contact the emergency services, this also applies to 112 (European) & 911 (US).
4 AMBER Calls received and categorised as serious but not 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. 
5 Call A telephone call received by the Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust via 999 or from a Health Care Professional.
6 CFR Community First Responder trained by the Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust to respond to appropriately graded calls.
7 Clear Time a Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust crew are clear (free for other work) from either the scene or hospital.
8 Conveyance A 999 incident which has received an emergency response at scene and resulted in the patient being conveyed to hospital.
9 EASC Emergency Ambulance Service Committee: ambulance commissioning in Wales is a collaborative process underpinned by a national collaborative Commissioning Quality and Delivery Framework. All seven Local Health Boards have signed up to the Framework. Emergency Ambulance Services in Wales are provided by a single national organisation – Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust (WAST).
10 Incident A 999 call which excludes the following: calls made in error, duplicate calls, information calls, test calls and calls to other ambulance controls.
11 Response A 999 Incident which as received an emergency response at scene.
12 Fractured Femur Hip fractures, also called proximal femoral fractures, are cracks or breaks in the top of the thigh bone (femur) close to the hip joint.
13 Frequent Caller Frequent callers are defined where the Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust have received 5 or more calls from the same address in the same month or 12 or more calls from the same address in the past 3 months.
14 Green Calls received and categorised as green are neither serious or life threatening. Conditions such as ear ache or minor injuries are coded as green calls. Green calls are ideally suited to management via secondary telephone triage. 
15 HB Health Board: an HB is an administrative unit within the National Health Service in Wales. The 7 HB's in Wales are Aneurin Bevan University Local Health Board, Betsi Cadwaladr University Local Health Board, Cardiff & Vale University Local Health Board, Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Local Health Board, Hywel Dda University Local Health Board, Powys Teaching Local Health Board, Swansea Bay University Local Health Board.
16 Handover Handover of care from Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust to LHB hospital staff.
17 Health Care Professional Suitably qualified health professional defined as: Doctor, General Practitioner, Emergency Care Practitioner, Nurse, District Nurse, Midwife, Paramedic, Dentist, Approved Social Worker.
18 Hear & Treat Hear and treat are callers who were deemed to have non-life-threatening conditions and received triage and advice over the phone.
19 Ideal Response The type of clinician / resource to send, in preference for the specific category (or codes).
20 Major A&E Unit Hospitals which provide a wide range of acute in-patient and out-patient specialist services together with the necessary support systems, which allow emergency admissions and which usually has an Accident and Emergency department.
21 Major Acute Hospitals which provide acute services limited to a one or two specialist units.
22 Median Median is the number separating the higher half of a data sample. The median of a finite list of numbers can be found by arranging all the observations from lowest value to highest value and picking the middle one (e.g., the median of {3, 3, 5, 9, 11} is 5).
23 Minor A&E Unit Hospitals which provide a range of acute in-patient and out-patient services specialist services (including some surgical acute specialties) but not the wide range available in major acute hospitals.
24 MPDS Medical Priority Dispatch System: MPDS is a unified system used to dispatch appropriate aid to medical emergencies including systematised caller interrogation and pre-arrival instructions. 
25 NHSDW NHS Direct Wales is a health advice and information service available 24 hours a day, every day and is part of the Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust.
26 Non-conveyance Patients which are not transported to hospital following assessment by clinician.
27 Non-conveyances (by reason) Number of patients not taken to hospital split by the reason why i.e. Treated at Scene.
28 Notification Time that the Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust notified LHB hospital staff of their arrival at hospital.
29 Overall % Conveyance Percentage of patients transported to hospital following initial assessment at scene by a Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust clinician.
30 PROQA Professional Questioning & Answering Software: ProQA is an expert system designed to help  provide the very best in service and speed. Correct dispatch levels are usually determined in less than one minute. ProQA additionally provides Dispatch Life Support (DLS) protocols which meet or exceed the international standards for emergency medical dispatching. ProQA is built on a foundation of empirical literature and medical experience relevant to medical dispatching. 
31 RED Calls deemed to be Immediately Life-Threatening.
32 ROSC Return of spontaneous circulation refers to signs of restored circulation (more than occasional gasp, occasional fleeting pulse or arterial waveform) evidenced by breathing, a palpable pulse or a measurable blood pressure
33 STEMI STEMI - ST segment elevation myocardial infarction - occurs when a coronary artery is totally occluded by a blood clot.
34 Stroke Care Bundle A Care Bundle is a group of between three and five specific interventions or processes of care that have a greater effect on patient outcomes if done together in a time-limited way, rather than separately.
35 Suitable Response The type of clinician / resource to send, if the IDEAL response is not available for the specific category (or codes).
36 WAST Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust: Spread over an area of 20,640 kilometres and serving a population of 2.9 million, this diverse area encompasses tranquil rural retreats, busy seaside resorts and large urban conurbations.
37 ABM Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University Local Health Board
38 AB Aneurin Bevan University Local Health Board
39 BCU Betsi Cadwaladr University Local Health Board
40 C&V Cardiff and Vale University Local Health Board
41 CT Cwm Taf University Local Health Board
42 CTM Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Local Health Board
43 HD Hywel Dda University Local Health Board
44 P Powys Teaching Local Health Board
45 SB Swansea Bay University Local Health Board