FOI 26-303 Call Handling on Islands
Freedom of Information Request
- Reference
- FOI 26-303 Call Handling on Islands
- Request Date
- 09 Jul 2026
- Response Date
- 06 Aug 2026
- Information Requested
On Friday, June 28, 2024, Orkney's MSP Liam McArthur met with SAS chief executive Michael Dickson to discuss how calls in Orkney were handled and how ambulances were dispatched. It followed concerns raised about long wait times for ambulances to arrive to some high-profile incidents in Orkney.
After this meeting, Mr McArthur issued a statement saying Mr Dickson "has asked his team to look at how the process of handling calls in Orkney and other island areas might be modified to deliver improvements."
By way of the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002, I would like to request:
- What, if any, modifications were considered as part of this work.
- What, if any, modifications were implemented as part of this work.
- All notes and minutes taking during meetings about this work (including meetings with Mr McArthur).
- Any reports or briefing notes that were compiled concerning this work.
- All internal — and, if it exists, external — correspondence concerning this work. Please include email, letters, messages from video conferencing platforms (Teams, Google Meet etc), text messages, WhatsApp messages, and other social media messages.
- Any attachments to the above correspondence.
I would be grateful if you could advise, by way of advice and assistance, if any further efforts have taken place - since those referred to above - to consider modifying how the call-handling and dispatch system works in Orkney, or the other island local authorities.
- Response
The Scottish Ambulance Service identified work relating to how emergency incidents in island communities are dispatched and managed operationally. The Service did not undertake a review of the fundamental clinical call-handling process itself. The work focused on ensuring that island communities were not adversely impacted by mainland escalation arrangements and that dispatch decisions could better reflect the unique circumstances of island response models.
Q1 – The Scottish Ambulance Service considered a range of options to support ambulance dispatch arrangements within island communities. This included excluding island communities from generic regional and sub-regional escalation arrangements, the creation of a bespoke Island Dispatch Code Cross Reference (DCR) table, the use of geographical polygons to identify island communities and apply bespoke dispatch arrangements, alternative dispatch code sets for island communities that better reflected local operational circumstances and any other additional system functionality and location-based prompts to support island-specific dispatching arrangements.
Q2 – The Islands DCR table was developed in partnership with frontline clinicians and operational staff working within island communities. These changes enable selected incidents to be dispatched to where mainland escalation arrangements might otherwise have resulted in a different response, allowing island circumstances to be considered more effectively.
Q3 - The Scottish Ambulance Service has identified two sets of meeting notes falling within the scope of this part of your request.
Relevant information from one set of meeting notes has been extracted and provided in the enclosed document. Information out with the scope of your request has been removed where appropriate.
The second set of meeting notes is withheld in full under section 30(b)(ii) of FOISA, which exempts information whose disclosure would, or would be likely to, inhibit substantially the free and frank exchange of views for the purposes of deliberation.
Q4 - The Service holds limited recorded information within the scope of this part of your request.
The enclosed report relates to the work undertaken to consider and implement changes to ambulance dispatch arrangements for island communities. A copy is enclosed.
Q5 - The Service holds correspondence within the scope of this request. We have extracted and disclosed factual information from the correspondence identified through our searches wherever reasonably possible.
Some information has been redacted under section 38(1)(b) of FOISA as it constitutes personal data relating to third parties. Disclosure would contravene the data protection principles set out in the UK General Data Protection Regulation and the Data Protection Act 2018.
While the Service is disclosing factual information relating to changes ultimately implemented, information revealing the development, consideration and evaluation of potential options has been withheld under section 30(b)(ii). This exemption applies where disclosure would, or would be likely to, inhibit substantially the free and frank exchange of views for the purposes of deliberation.
The information reflects the development of options rather than established policy or agreed operational practice. Much of the discussion involves preliminary views, suggestions, proposals, challenge, and candid operational assessment intended to inform future decision-making. Officials require a private space to discuss such matters openly and rigorously before reaching settled conclusions.
Information has been withheld under section 33(1)(b) of FOISA because disclosure would, or would be likely to, prejudice substantially the commercial interests of a third party. The withheld information relates to proprietary emergency dispatch coding and response arrangements derived from the Medical Priority Dispatch System (MPDS), which is owned and licensed by Priority Dispatch Corporation (PDC). Disclosure would reveal commercially valuable intellectual property and aspects of the operational logic underpinning the system. The Scottish Information Commissioner has previously accepted that disclosure of MPDS-related information could substantially prejudice PDC's commercial interests. The Scottish Ambulance Service therefore considers that section 33(1)(b) applies to the information withheld
Q6 - Attachments held within the scope of the request and identified during our searches and are subject to the exemptions described above. Any factual information has been extracted and provided in the attached sheet
Advice and Assistance
In accordance with our duty to provide advice and assistance under section 15 of FOISA, we can advise the Scottish Ambulance Service identified work relating to how emergency incidents in island communities are dispatched and managed operationally.
The Service did not undertake a review of the underlying clinical call-handling process itself. The work focused on ensuring that island communities were not adversely impacted by mainland escalation arrangements and that dispatch decisions could better reflect the operational realities of island response models.
While the Islands DCR arrangements are now operational, they remain subject to ongoing clinical and operational governance and refinement. The Scottish Ambulance Service has not identified any separate programme of substantive modifications beyond the implementation of the Islands DCR arrangements described above.
- Response Documents
