FOI 26-065 Routine Discharges by A&E
Freedom of Information Request
- Reference
- FOI 26-065 Routine Discharges by A&E
- Request Date
- 04 Feb 2026
- Response Date
- 27 Feb 2026
- Information Requested
The response indicates that small numbers have been suppressed for disclosure control purposes.
While I understand the requirement to protect confidentiality, the current presentation makes it impossible to distinguish between zero activity and suppressed values. This creates a misleading impression that no discharges occurred in certain months or stations.
As part of this review, I request that the data is re-presented in a clearer format, for example:
- Explicitlystatingthat values represent “between one and five” rather than leaving cells ambiguous; or
- Providing aggregated totals (such as quarterly figures) where this avoids disclosure concerns while maintaining transparency.
The response states that A&E vehicles would only be used for hospital discharges where a more appropriate vehicle is not available, typically during night shift, and that there is no written policy or guidance governing this.
I am requesting clarification on the following points:
- What operational guidance, governance framework, or decision-making process is relied upon when allocating AS3 routine discharge work to A&E resources.
- Whether any Demand and Capacity principles or protections exist to prevent routine discharge activity from reducing emergency response capability.
- How this practice aligns with the stated aims of recent Demand and Capacity work undertaken by the Service.
Even if there is no single document labelled as a “policy”, the explanation provided implies that an established organisational position exists, and this should be clarified.
- Response
Please see the table below detailing the information requested in Q3 above. The information from FOI 26-011 has been aggregated to provide quarterly totals.
For the avoidance of doubt, figures presented as “1–5” indicate that activity occurred but that the recorded number of incidents was fewer than five and has been presented in this way for disclosure control purposes.
Where no incidents occurred, this would be shown explicitly as “0”. As no zero values are shown in the table, this indicates that some level of activity took place in each instance where figures are presented as “1–5”.
Anchor Despatch Points Chirnside, Hawick, Kelso, Melrose and Peebles - Journey Type Discharges - Resource Type A&E - 2025
CHIRNSIDE STATION
HAWICK STATION
KELSO STATION
MELROSE STATION
PEEBLES STATION
Q1
5
22
17
65
1-5
Q2
8
19
13
50
1-5
Q3
5
10
10
35
1-5
Q4
1-5
19
9
28
1-5
The Scottish Ambulance Service no longer uses an “AS3” code in the tasking of vehicles. Ambulances may be tasked to a range of incident types, including emergency, timed admissions, and routine calls or discharges.
For the purposes of this request only, the Service has interpreted references to “AS3” as meaning routine calls or routine discharge activity. This interpretation has been applied solely to assist with responding to the request and does not reflect current operational coding or tasking terminology.
What operational guidance, governance framework, or decision-making process is relied upon when allocating AS3 routine discharge work to A&E resources.
Dispatchers within the Scottish Ambulance Service are trained to work in line with agreed standard operating procedures and are supported by supervisory and management oversight.
When considering routine discharge activity, dispatchers take account of clinical requirements, resource availability, and system pressures. Where A&E clinical input is required for the journey, acceptance and allocation of the request requires supervisory or management authorisation. Where A&E clinical input is not required, requests may be redirected to Scheduled Care.
Out‑of‑hours, requests may be accepted where alternative arrangements cannot be made and are allocated subject to available capacity, with onward transfer to Scheduled Care where appropriate.
During periods of system pressure, A&E resources may be deployed to support patient flow at specific sites. These decisions are made jointly by operational managers based on real‑time demand and patient safety considerations.
There is no single standalone document that prescribes these decisions, which are made dynamically using professional judgement and established operational practices.
Whether any Demand and Capacity principles or protections exist to prevent routine discharge activity from reducing emergency response capability.
The allocation of ambulance resources is managed dynamically in real time through established call prioritisation processes. Incidents are prioritised according to clinical urgency, and resources are allocated in priority order. Where no higher‑priority incidents are awaiting response at a given time, an available emergency resource may be tasked to lower‑priority or routine activity.
This does not reflect a separate policy governing routine discharge work, but rather the application of live demand and capacity management principles. A key protection within this approach is that resources remain subject to reprioritisation at all times. If a higher‑priority incident is received while a crew is en route to, or engaged in, a lower‑priority task, the resource may be diverted in order to maintain emergency response capability.
The Service does not hold a specific written rule set or framework that describes this as a standalone protection mechanism; rather, it forms part of normal operational call prioritisation and live resource management.
How this practice aligns with the stated aims of recent Demand and Capacity work undertaken by the Service.
The Service’s Demand and Capacity review work was undertaken to assess the resources required to meet demand, taking account of the operational procedures in place at the time. This included consideration of how resources are prioritised and allocated across different categories of incident.
These prioritisation arrangements follow an established hierarchy of clinical urgency, including Purple, Red, Amber, Yellow, Green, and Urgent (1–4 hour) calls. The Demand and Capacity work did not introduce separate or additional recorded policies governing routine discharge activity, nor does the Service hold recorded information explicitly analysing the alignment of that activity with the review’s aims beyond the prioritisation framework already in place.
