FOI 25-278 Provision of Incident Numbers and Clinical Codes
Freedom of Information Request
- Reference
- FOI 25-278 Provision of Incident Numbers and Clinical Codes
- Request Date
- 02 Jul 2025
- Response Date
- 11 Jul 2025
- Information Requested
Under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002, I am writing to request information regarding the Scottish Ambulance Service’s C3 system and the Clinical Response Model (CRM).
Specifically, I would like to request clarification on the following points:
- Are 999 call incident numbers exclusively for healthcare professionals (HCPs), or can they be provided to members of the public (who call 999)?
- Can the call dispatch code (or colour grading) assigned under the Clinical Response Model be provided or disclosed to members of the public who call 999, or is this information only available to healthcare professionals?
- Are there any official Scottish Ambulance Service policies, guidelines, or procedural documents that govern the use and issuance of call dispatch codes and/or call incident numbers?
- Are there any external (to SAS) or third party policies, guidelines or procedural documents that govern the use and issuance of call dispatch codes and/or call incident numbers?
- Response
Q1 - If a request is received for incident information, each individual request would be considered and answered as appropriate in line with the legislative obligations of the Scottish Ambulance Service.
Each call received by the Scottish Ambulance Service generates a unique patient health record.
Further details of how to request this information can be found on our website: Request Personal Information
Q2 - All calls are regarded as an emergency by the Scottish Ambulance Service and as information is received about the patient’s condition, the call is triaged a clinical code is created. These codes are essentially how calls are grouped together depending on the needs of the patient. Each individual code is associated with the patient record and a request for this information for individual incidents can be considered and answered as appropriate in line with the legislative obligations of the Scottish Ambulance Service. Further details of how to request this information can be found on our website: Request Personal Information
The colour codes are also used by the Scottish Ambulance Service to report on response times; this information is available on our website in generalised datasets. Unscheduled Care Operational Statistics.
Q3 - We have applied section 17 of the Freedom of Information Scotland Act 2002 as information not held. To help explain the application of this exemption, the Scottish Ambulance Service does not hold any internal documents specifically produced by the Scottish Ambulance Service to govern the use and issuance of call dispatch codes or incident numbers.
Q4 - As an organisation, the Scottish Ambulance Service is held accountable to the Data Protection Act where we are both Controllers and Processors of personal information. The Scottish Ambulance Service must adhere to the principles as laid out by the Data Protection legislation. This legislation covers any information relating to an identifiable individual.
Further information on how the Scottish Ambulance Service utilises and adheres to the Data Protection Act can be found on our website Data Protection Notice
