FOI 26-260 Target Call Answer times
Freedom of Information Request
- Reference
- FOI 26-260 Target Call Answer times
- Request Date
- 15 Jun 2026
- Response Date
- 26 Jun 2026
- Information Requested
- Call priority/category assigned and target answer times for such calls.
- 999 call answer/wait time statistics for 11 June 2026 and the week of 8–14 June 2026 (average wait, % answered within 30/60/120 seconds, calls over 3–4 minutes).
- Response
We acknowledge there were two further questions in your FOI request which have been exempt under section 38(1)(b) of the Freedom of Information Scotland Act 2002, as advised, these have been passed to the Data Protection team to be answered under a Subject Access Request.
Q1 - Call categories are not assigned at the point a 999 call is received or answered. Categories are applied after the call has been answered, when sufficient information has been obtained through clinical triage.
As such, there is no recorded category associated with a call waiting to be answered, and therefore we are unable to link call answer times to specific call categories.
For context, once triaged, calls are categorised in line with the Scottish Ambulance Service’s clinical prioritisation framework, which sets out expected response standards for different levels of clinical need.
Q2 – Please see the attached sheet detailing the information requested for 11/06/2026 and the week commencing 8th June 2026.
Please note caution when interpreting this data
Call answer times relate to the period before the call is answered, at which point no clinical category has yet been assigned.
Metrics such as average wait time and percentages answered within specified timeframes reflect telephony performance only and are not indicative of patient acuity or final call categorisation.
Time-based measures are cumulative: calls answered within 30 seconds are included within those answered within 60 seconds, and those within 60 seconds are included within 120 seconds.
- Response Documents
