FOI 26-017 Calls Originated from GP's and NHS24
Freedom of Information Request
- Reference
- FOI 26-017 Calls Originated from GP's and NHS24
- Request Date
- 07 Jan 2026
- Response Date
- 28 Jan 2026
- Information Requested
Please provide information on the number of calls from GP surgeries and NHS 24 to the Scottish Ambulance service for calendar year 2025
Can you also provide the number of conveyance to hospital vs discharge on scene and referrals as a result of these calls.
In addition a breakdown of the category (purple,red,amber and yellow) with median and 90th centile response times. Can these be provided relating to national and then Ayrshire and Arran health board data.
- Response
Please see the attached sheet detailing the information requested. The information requested has been split into 6 tabs on the spreadsheet; the three blue tabs relate to national data and the three green tabs relate to Ayrshire and Arran data.
For both National and Ayrshire & Arran the following information has been provided:
Method of Call – This tab details the total number of calls received from Doctor/GP, NHS24 or Out of Hours GP to the Scottish Ambulance Service; the total number of these incidents that were attended, the total number of patients that were conveyaed to hospital and the total number of incidents that resulted in non-conveyance. These figures have been broken down by calendar month.
Referrals – This tab details total incidents for each month in 2025 broken down by Method of Call that resulted in an onward referral after being assessed by crews.
Referral information has been taken from our electronic patient record systems. Because our older and newer systems record referrals differently, these figures are based on the best available indicators at the time. The table is split by method of call and includes only cases where the patient was not conveyed.
Response Times – This tab details the response times for calls broken down by both call method and call category.
Important information to consider when interpreting this data
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.
The severity of harm (acuity) has been given as how the call was categorised; call categories are defined in the following way:
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
Median Response Time - The time in which 50% of patients are reached by a SAS crew given in total minutes
90th Percentile Response - Time The time in which 90% of patients are reached by a SAS crew given in total minutes.
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.
- Response Documents
