The way the Welsh Ambulance Service deals with the most serious
999 calls is changing from tomorrow (Tuesday 1 July).
A new purple category is being introduced for people suffering
from an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest and the red category will
be retained for the life-threatening emergencies, those at high
risk of cardiac or respiratory arrest, including illnesses and
trauma.
The changes are designed to ensure more people get the
life-saving help they need from the ambulance service, while
those who do not need an ambulance receive more appropriate care
for their needs.
They aim to help improve survival rates from out-of-hospital
cardiac arrests in Wales, which are currently less than 5%.
The changes are being made in response to a recommendation from
the Senedd's Health and Social Care Committee, which concluded
the existing ambulance response target is no longer appropriate
or fit for purpose.
The new approach places a greater focus on outcomes than response
times.
, Cabinet Secretary for Health
and Social Care, said: “We're taking decisive action to
save more lives.
“Until now, cardiac arrests have been categorised in the same way
as less critical problems like breathing difficulties. This new
approach ensures ambulance teams prioritise people with the most
urgent needs.
“This targeted clinical response, combined with wider access to
defibrillators in the community and improvements to hospital
handovers, represents our commitment to improving survival
rates.”
Jason Killens, chief executive of the Welsh Ambulance
Service, said: “Since 1974, the ambulance service has
been measured by the time it takes to reach emergency calls.
“The ambulance service of today provides much more sophisticated
care, so shifting the focus to how many people survive a
life-or-death emergency because of our interventions, rather than
how many minutes it takes us to arrive, is an important step to
reflect that.”
From tomorrow (Tuesday 1 July), ambulances will be dispatched to
calls in the purple arrest category – people suffering a
suspected cardiac and respiratory arrest – and red emergency
category – people at high risk of cardiac and respiratory arrest,
including as a result of injury and illness – as quickly as
possible.
The expectation is that ambulances will respond to these calls in
an average of six to eight minutes. But the primary measure for
purple calls will be the percentage of people to have a heartbeat
restored after a cardiac arrest until arrival at hospital.
As part of the new model, rapid clinical screening will be
undertaken for all calls not classified as purple or red. This
will ensure every call receives a more tailored approach, which
takes account of a person's symptoms and where the incident
occurred. This means every person will receive a tailored
response to their needs.
Action will also be taken to improve ambulance handover at
hospitals to support ambulance capacity to respond to 999 calls
in the community. The Welsh Government's response to the
Ministerial Advisory Group on NHS Performance and Productivity
included developing a plan to assess the readiness of NHS Wales
to deliver a maximum 45-minute ambulance patient handover time.
NHS organisations have been set clear expectations to improve
ambulance patient handover and are actively working to drive
improvements. The Welsh Government has established a national,
clinically-led taskforce to support this. It will focus on
emergency department processes and patient flow.
From July, the Welsh Ambulance Service will also host the NHS
Wales Save a Life Cymru programme to promote CPR awareness and
improve accessibility of defibrillators in the community. This
will involve a more joined up approach. There are more than 8,500
registered public access defibrillators in communities throughout
Wales, which can help the public play a vital role in improving
the chances of survival for people who experience an
out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.
The Welsh Government has now provided £500,000 to the Welsh
Ambulance Service for an additional 500 Automated External
Defibrillators (AEDs) in community locations to support more
lives to be saved.
Notes to editors
To help save lives in the event of an out-of-hospital cardiac
arrest, the Welsh Ambulance Service is asking everyone to
consider:
- Learning how to perform CPR. The Resuscitation Council UK has
produced this step-by-step guide: How to do CPR |
Resuscitation Council UK
- Registering on the GoodSAM app
if you are a qualified first aider to get an alert if there is a
cardiac arrest in your area and start the ‘chain of survival'
before an ambulance arrives.
- Volunteering as a Community
Welfare Responder (CWR), then a Community First
Responder (CFR). CFRs are trained by the
ambulance service to attend 999 calls in their community and
administer first aid in the minutes before an ambulance
arrives, including CPR and defibrillation.
- Registering new and existing defibrillators on the national
defibrillator network The Circuit so 999 call takers can see
their location: The Circuit - the
national defibrillator network
