Question reference: S2W-32398
- Asked by: Roseanna Cunningham, MSP for Perth, Scottish National Party
- Date lodged: 15 March 2007
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Current status: Answered by Andy Kerr on 23 March 2007
Question
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the clinical algorithms used by the Scottish Ambulance Service to prioritise 999 calls allow sufficient flexibility to judge a patient’s condition accurately.
Answer
The Scottish Ambulance Servicerolled out priority based dispatch across mainland Scotland between 2002 and2004. This system prioritises 999 emergency calls to ensure that patients whoare at the most immediate risk receive the fastest response. The ambulanceservice’s call handlers identify the patients presenting conditions by askingset questions based on medically proven algorithms. Regular audits are carriedout to ensure that call handlers are using key words when asking the callerthese questions. This ensures that the seriousness of the situation is capturedaccurately. The computer system is configured to be risk averse so that, as arule, the outcome errs on the side of caution.
The algorithms are based onpresenting conditions which might be life-threatening, for example chest pains,breathing problems, unconsciousness and haemorrhaging, some of which might besymptomatic of cancer. Whilst there is no clinical algorithm specifically foroncology patients, doctors can request that a flag be placed on a patientsrecord to provide the ambulance service’s call handler with additionalinformation about that patients condition.
The ambulance service’s non-emergency patient transportservice places patients who have a clinical need for transport into prioritycategories based on the treatment being undertaken at clinics. The ambulanceservice focuses resources on delivering services to patients with medicalconditions such as oncology, renal dialysis, cardiac and mental illness.