FOI 25-537 Response Times
Freedom of Information Request
- Reference
- FOI 25-537 Response Times
- Request Date
- 17 Nov 2025
- Response Date
- 21 Nov 2025
- Information Requested
1) How many calls for the calendar year of 2025 to the Scottish Ambulance Service which are given triaged as 'purple' priority were responded to
- a) under two minutes
- b) between 2 and 4 minutes
- c) between 5 and 7 minutes
- d) between 8 and 10 minutes
- e) between 11 and 29 minutes
- f) between 30 and 59minutes
- g) between 60 and 119 minutes
- h) more than 120 minutes
2) How many calls for the calendar year of 2025 to the Scottish Ambulance Service which are given triaged as 'red' priority were responded to
- a) under two minutes
b) between 2 and 4 minutes
c) between 5 and 8 minutes
d) between 9 and 15 minutes - e) between 16 and 29 minutes
f) between 30 and 59 minutes
g) between 60 and 119 minutes
h) more than 120 minutes
3) How many calls for the calendar year of 2025 to the Scottish Ambulance Service which are given triaged as 'amber' priority were responded to
- a) under five minutes
b) between five and 10 minutes
c) between 11 and 16 minutes - e) between 17 and 29 minutes
f) between 30 and 59 minutes
g) between 60 and 119 minutes
h) more than 120 minutes
5) How many calls for the calendar year of 2025 to the Scottish Ambulance Service which are given triaged as 'yellow' priority were responded to
- a) under five minutes
b) between five and 15 minutes
c) between 16 and 31 minutes
d) between 32 and 59 minutes
e) between 60 and 119 minutes
f) more than 120 minutes
- Response
The Scottish Ambulance Service implemented the Clinical Response Model (CRM) for Emergency 999 calls
in November 2016. The CRM aims to save more lives by more accurately identifying patients with
immediately life-threatening conditions, such as cardiac arrest; and to safely and more effectively send the
right type of resource first time to all patients based on their clinical need.
The model institutes a colour-coded system, which categorises 999 calls in terms of clinical need. Cases
are coded purple, red, amber, yellow and green.
In less urgent cases, call handlers may spend more time with patients to better understand their health
needs and ensure they send the most appropriate resource for their condition and clinical need.
The process is also designed to identify instances when an ambulance is not needed and instead the
patient can be referred to an alternative pathway such as GPs, NHS24 or outpatient services. All calls are
triaged into the following categories:
Purple: Our most critically ill patients. This is where a patient is identified as having a 10% or more chance
of having a cardiac arrest. The actual cardiac arrest rate across this category is approximately 53%.
Red: Our next most serious category where a patient is identified as having a likelihood of cardiac arrest
between 1% and 9.9%, or having a need for resuscitation interventions such as airway management above 2%. Currently the cardiac arrest rate in this category is approximately 1.5%.
Amber: where a patient is likely to need diagnosis and transport to hospital or specialist care. The cardiac
arrest rates for all of these codes is less than 0.5%
Yellow: a patient who has a need for care but has a very low likelihood of requiring life-saving interventions. For example, patients who have tripped or fallen but not sustained any serious injury.
Please note: the response times show total time and do not factor in possible upgrading or downgrading
that may occur depending on the patient condition. For example, a call may start out as a yellow call,
subsequently be upgraded to a purple call some time later, but only the total time from the first call received is shown. The starting point is always set for the colour category first determined, not the final colour
category assigned. Where delays occur, clinical advisors maintain contact with the patient, checking their
condition on an ongoing basis, and upgrading when appropriate.
- Response Documents
