FOI 26-285 Orkney Emergency Responses in May 2026
Freedom of Information Request
- Reference
- FOI 26-285 Orkney Emergency Responses in May 2026
- Request Date
- 25 Jun 2026
- Response Date
- 23 Jul 2026
- Information Requested
I would please like to make a freedom of information request for data concerning ambulance call-outs in Orkney.
For the month of May 2026, please provide a complete list of all ambulance call outs.
For each instance, please provide (A) the date, (B) the time the first 999 call was made to SAS, (C) the time the call-out was completed, and (D) the priority colour-coding of the incident. Please also specify the time zone used in the above data (i.e. GMT or BST).
I would like to pre-emptively suggest that I do not believe the above information is personal data, as I am not requesting details of any people or locations involved, and the times do not relate to any identifiable individual.
Furthermore, information of the kind I am requesting is regularly provided to the media by the SAS press office. It is common practice for the press office to confirm when a call was made, which parish the ambulance was sent to, etc. For clarity's sake, I am not requesting details about any location in this request.
Your request was followed up with a supplementary question:
I would please like to amend this to include the different colour-codings that an incident might have been assigned, as I understand these can change depending on how severe it becomes. In each instance then, could I ask for "(D) the priority colour-codings of the incident.”
If the cost exemption allows, I would ideally like to also request (E) the times each colour coding was assigned to each instance. For instance, it might be amber at 1.30pm and then purple at 2pm.
Clarification: I'm interested in emergency 999 calls.
In my request I mentioned "(B) the time the first 999 call was made to SAS."
Apologies if this complicates matters, but I would be interested to know about the times for any subsequent 999 calls concerning the same call-out, including any calls made to 999 by on call clinicians concerning the same call-out.
- Response
Please find attached a spreadsheet containing information relating to emergency ‘999’ attended incidents only, which occurred within the National Records of Scotland (NRS) Council Area of Orkney Islands during May 2026.
The information provided includes:
- Call Started Week Commencing – the week in which the call was received by the Scottish Ambulance Service (Monday is treated as the first day of the week).
- Call Started Hour of Day – the hour during which the call was received by the Scottish Ambulance Service. Times are reported in British Summer Time (BST).
- Last Resource Cleared Hour of Day – the hour during which the final Scottish Ambulance Service resource became available following completion of the incident. Times are reported in British Summer Time (BST).
- Total SAS Incident Contact Time (minutes) – the total elapsed time, in minutes, from when the call was first received by the Scottish Ambulance Service until the final responding resource was cleared from the incident and available for further duties.
- Call Type – indicates whether the incident was recorded as an emergency call
- Call Colour – the priority category assigned to the incident when resources were dispatched.
Please note caution when interpreting this data - that Total SAS Incident Contact Time is not a response time measure. Rather, it represents the entire period during which Scottish Ambulance Service resources were involved with the incident.
Depending on the nature of the call, this may include call handling and clinical triage, dispatch of resources, assessment and treatment at scene, patient transport, hospital handover, vehicle cleaning and restocking, completion of clinical records, provision of statements, and any other activities required before the responding resource became available for further deployment.
The Scottish Ambulance Service uses the following priority categories:
- Purple – patients assessed as being at the highest risk of cardiac arrest or other immediately life-threatening conditions.
- Red – patients with serious conditions requiring urgent ambulance attendance.
- Amber – patients who are likely to require assessment, treatment, and/or transport to hospital.
- Yellow – patients who require care but are assessed as being at a lower risk of serious deterioration.
The longest response times recorded in this dataset relate to patients who were already within a hospital environment and were awaiting transfer to another hospital by emergency airlift. These cases involve complex inter‑hospital transfers rather than community 999 incidents. The patients were receiving ongoing clinical care while awaiting the specialist air resources required for their transfer, and therefore these times should not be interpreted as delays in reaching patients in the community. For clarity, these have been highlighted with an * on the data sheet.
In relation to the supplementary part of your request asking for the different priority colour-coding that an incident may have been assigned, and the times at which each colour-coding was assigned, the call colour included in the spreadsheet is the colour the SAS crew responded to. This colour may have changed prior to this during the incident. Although SAS holds call log information about the triage process and any previous call colours, that information is not held in a reportable format. To provide the sequence of different call colours for each incident, and the times at which each colour was assigned, would require a manual review of each individual call log and the creation of new information through analysis and judgement. FOISA gives a right of access to recorded information held by a public authority at the time a request is received; it does not require an authority to create new information in order to respond. We are therefore applying section 17(1) of FOISA, notice that information is not held, to this part of your request.
The Scottish Ambulance Service does not hold information identifying the times of any subsequent 999 calls relating to the same call-out, including any calls made by on-call clinicians concerning the same incident.
Each 999 call is recorded as a standalone record within our call handling system. There is no field, marker or unique identifier which records whether a call is connected to an earlier call relating to the same incident. This also applies where multiple calls are received about the same event.
To identify any subsequent calls, the Scottish Ambulance Service would need to manually review individual call records and free-text notes and attempt to infer links between calls using details such as location, patient information, telephone numbers and incident circumstances. As there is no definitive record confirming that calls relate to the same incident, any answer would require assumptions, interpretation and judgement to be applied to individual records and would result in the creation of new information rather than the retrieval of information held.
Accordingly, in terms of section 17 of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002, the Scottish Ambulance Service gives notice that it does not hold the information requested.
We acknowledge your position noting that your request does not ask for names, addresses or other direct identifiers. However, information does not need to name an individual to constitute personal data. Information may be personal data where an individual can be identified indirectly, including by combining the information with other information reasonably available to the requester or others.
In this case, the requested dataset relates to ambulance incidents in Orkney, a relatively small geographic area with a close-knit community, and includes precise timestamps, call categorisation and acuity information. Some of those details could allow a person to be singled out or linked to a specific incident when combined with local knowledge, public-domain information, media reporting, social media or other available material.
We have considered whether disclosure in the format requested would contravene the data protection principles. Releasing exact incident-level dates, times and acuity information would be unfair to the individuals concerned and would breach the first data protection principle. Section 38(1)(b) of FOISA is therefore engaged. We have also considered whether there is a lawful basis for disclosure, the fairness of disclosure, and whether your legitimate interest can be met without creating a risk of identification. We recognise the public interest in understanding ambulance demand in Orkney and have provided incident-level information in a reduced form. However, we do not consider it fair or lawful to disclose exact timings and related acuity information where this could identify, or contribute to identifying, individuals involved in emergency medical incidents.
As section 38(1)(b) is an absolute exemption, it is not subject to the public interest test. The balancing exercise considered above relates to the data protection assessment, including fairness, lawfulness and the rights and freedoms of the individuals whose personal data may be affected by disclosure.
- Response Documents
