FOI 26-011 Discharges by A&E Vehicles
Freedom of Information Request
- Reference
- FOI 26-011 Discharges by A&E Vehicles
- Request Date
- 05 Jan 2026
- Response Date
- 23 Jan 2026
- Information Requested
Information Requested Please provide data relating to AS3-coded incidents (routine discharges) that were carried out by A&E (emergency) ambulance crews and allocated to emergency ambulance resources located within the Scottish Borders area. The request covers the period: 01 January 2025 to 31 December 2025 (inclusive) Data Breakdown Requested For the above period, please provide:
- Monthly totals (January to December 2025) of AS3-coded routine discharge incidents
- Broken down by originating emergency ambulance station, specifically: • Melrose • Hawick • Peebles • Chirnside • Kelso
- Confirmation that the figures relate specifically to:
- Routine discharge work coded as AS3
- Undertaken by A&E / emergency ambulance crews
- Using emergency ambulance resources based at the above stations
Format If possible, please supply the information in a tabular format (e.g. Excel or CSV), with: • Station name • Month • Number of AS3 routine discharge incidents Clarification / Scope This request does not seek: • Patient-identifiable information • Crew names • Exact locations or addresses
- Response
Please see the attached sheet detailing the total number of emergency ambulance only discharges from Borders General hospital between 01/01/2025 - 31/12/2025. This information has been broken down by the station of the emergency vehicle and then by month of occurrence.
For the given data, you will see that some of the figures are shown as, five or less than five, please note that this figure has been suppressed because the statistical value is less than five. The Scottish Ambulance service has a duty, under the Data Protection Act to avoid directly or indirectly revealing any personal details. It is therefore widely understood that provision of statistics on small numbers, five or less are statistically suppressed upon disclosure.
It is important to note – A&E vehicles would only be used for hospital discharges where a more appropriate vehicle is not available; this would usually be during nightshift. Hospital discharges are given low-priority and an A&E vehicle will not be diverted away from a higher priority call to attend. There is no written policy or guidance within the Scottish Ambulance Service on these calls.
The Scottish Ambulance Service implemented the Clinical Response Model which helps to categorise calls, more information can be found on our website Unscheduled Care Operational Statistics. Calls for hospital discharges that are assigned to A&E vehicles are given a routine category, lowest. If the clinical demand is too high for greater priority incidents, this routine white call would be assigned to a Patient Transport Vehicle when one is available.
- Response Documents
