FOI 26-409 Incidents involving Life Extinct

Freedom of Information Request

Request Date

07 Sep 2026

Response Date

05 Oct 2026

Information Requested

Under the Freedom of Information (Scotland) Act 2002, I request the following recorded information, for each calendar year 2021, 2022, 2023, 2024 and 2025, and for the period 1 January to 31 August 2026.

For the purposes of this request, “a death was recorded” means that a Recognition of Life Extinct, a Pronouncement of Life Extinct or a Confirmation of Death was recorded against the incident. Please count each incident once, whether or not more than one of those codes was recorded against it.

The number of 999 incidents in which a death was recorded, broken down by the Clinical Response Model category assigned to the incident at the initial triage of the first 999 call — Purple, Red, Amber, Yellow, Green and Teal.
Of the incidents in question 1, the number where the Medical Priority Dispatch System protocol selected at the first 999 call was Protocol 9 (Cardiac or Respiratory Arrest / Death), and the number where any other protocol was selected, broken down by the initial category.
Of the incidents in question 1, the number where the category was changed between the initial triage of the first 999 call and the dispatch of a resource, broken down by the initial category and the final category.
Of the incidents in question 1 whose initial category was Green or Teal, the median and the longest time between the first 999 call and the arrival of the first Service resource on scene.
The number of Significant Adverse Event Reviews commissioned by the Service concerning the death of a patient, broken down by the initial category of the incident concerned.
The total number of 999 incidents in each Clinical Response Model category, on the same basis as question 1, so that the figures above can be expressed as a proportion.

Please provide the figures in spreadsheet or CSV format. If any part of this request would exceed the cost limit, please answer the remaining parts and advise, under section 15 of the Act, how that part could be narrowed.

Response

The Scottish Information Commissioner explains that freedom of information law applies only to recorded information held by a public authority and that public authorities are not required to create new information in order to respond to a request.

The Commissioner also distinguishes between compiling information that can be retrieved from readily available records and producing an answer that requires the application of complex skill and judgement. Where information can only be produced by developing analytical rules, interpreting records and applying judgement, the resulting answer is new information rather than recorded information already held.

The number of 999 incidents in which a death was recorded, broken down by the Clinical Response Model category assigned to the incident at the initial triage of the first 999 call — Purple, Red, Amber, Yellow, Green and Teal.

Please see the table below detailing the total number of incidents attended where the Scottish Ambulance Service has declared PLE (Pronounced Life Extinct) or ROLE (Recognition of Life Extinct) for each year requested broken down by colour.

Please Note: The call colour shown is the response colour and may differ from the initial triage colour. Changes may occur before the crew attend if new information about the patient’s condition becomes available through the call handling and triage process.

* 2026 includes data from January to August only.

Of the incidents in question 1, the number where the Medical Priority Dispatch System protocol selected at the first 999 call was Protocol 9 (Cardiac or Respiratory Arrest / Death), and the number where any other protocol was selected, broken down by the initial category.

Please see below the figures provided in question 1 broken down by year and chief complaint or cardiac/respiratory arrest and other.

Please Note: The call category shown is the response category and may differ from the initial triage category. Changes may occur before the crew attend if new information about the patient’s condition becomes available through the call handling and triage process.

* 2026 includes data from January to August only.

Of the incidents in question 1, the number where the category was changed between the initial triage of the first 999 call and the dispatch of a resource, broken down by the initial category and the final category.

The Scottish Ambulance Service does not hold an existing recorded breakdown showing changes between the category assigned during the initial triage of the first 999 call and the category applying when the first resource attended.

The requested initial-to-dispatch comparison could only be produced by developing a methodology, interpreting individual records, resolving competing entries and creating a new derived dataset. The result is not recorded information already held in a reportable format by the Service.

Accordingly, the Service gives notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that the information requested in question 3 is not held.

Of the incidents in question 1 whose initial category was Green or Teal, the median and the longest time between the first 999 call and the arrival of the first Service resource on scene.

As explained in our response to question 3, the Scottish Ambulance Service cannot identify the initial call category from existing recorded information without creating a new dataset through analysis and the application of complex skill and judgement. We are therefore unable to identify the incidents initially categorised as Green or Teal in order to calculate the median and longest response times requested.

Accordingly, the Service gives notice under section 17(1) of FOISA that this information is not held.

The number of Significant Adverse Event Reviews commissioned by the Service concerning the death of a patient, broken down by the initial category of the incident concerned.

Please see the table below detailing the number of SAER’s commissioned each year requested:

Whilst records are held of Significant Adverse Event Reviews (SAERs) involving patient deaths, they are not recorded in a way that enables a report to be produced showing the call colour category for each case. To provide a breakdown would require the manual review of individual SAER records and the application of complex skill and judgement to determine the appropriate category. This would go beyond extracting existing recorded information and would require the creation of new information. It is for this reason we have applied section 17 of the Freedom of Information Scotland Act 2002, as information not held.

The total number of 999 incidents in each Clinical Response Model category, on the same basis as question 1, so that the figures above can be expressed as a proportion.

Please see below the total number of emergency incidents received broken down by acuity and year.

* 2026 includes data from January to August only.

FOI 26-409 Incidents involving Life Extinct

Freedom of Information Request

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