Starting today (1st July), the Welsh Ambulance Service is to introduce a new purple category for those experiencing an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, keeping the red category for life-threatening emergencies, like those at high risk of cardiac or respiratory arrest, or those with illnesses or trauma.
This is to ensure that people get the help they need from emergency services, and making sure that those who do not need an ambulance are given more appropriate care for their needs. Ambulances dispatched to calls in the purple arrest category and red emergency category will be the highest priority, aiming to respond within six to eight minutes.
The change is a move to help improve survival rates from out-of-hospital cardiac arrests, which are currently less than five per cent.
A recommendation from the Senedd’s Health and Social Care Committee concluded that the existing ambulance response target is not longer appropriate, and so the changes address this.
Calls not in purple or red categories will undergo rapid clinical screening to ensure that every call receives a more tailored approach, taking into account the person’s symptoms and where the incident occurred.
Jeremy Miles, cabinet secretary for Health and Social Care, said: “We’re taking decisive action to save more lives.
“Until now, cardiac arrests have been categorised in the same way as less critical problems like breathing difficulties. This new approach ensures ambulance teams prioritise people with the most urgent needs.
“This targeted clinical response, combined with wider access to defibrillators in the community and improvements to hospital handovers, represents our commitment to improving survival rates.”
NHS Wales has also developed a plan to assess its ability to deliver a maximum 45-minute ambulance patient handover time, following recommendations form the Ministerial Advisory Group on NHS Performance and Productivity, and the Welsh government has also set up a national taskforce to support this, focussing on emergency department processes and patient flow.
