FOI 25-046 Emergency Services Requests
Freedom of Information Request
- Reference
- FOI 25-046 Emergency Services Requests
- Request Date
- 26 Jan 2025
- Response Date
- 19 Feb 2025
- Information Requested
I would like to know the number of requests made for an ambulance by other emergency services (Police, Fire, Coastguard). I'd like
1) total number of requests made (If more than one ambulance requested for the same incident, this should count as a single request)
2) number of requests that were declined (no ambulance sent)
3) number of requests where there was a delay of 1 hour or more. I'd like the figures for each area, daily for the month of January 2025. If available I'd like the same for January 2024, 2023 and 2019.
- Response
1) total number of requests made (If more than one ambulance requested for the same incident, this should count as a single request)
Please see the first tab on the attached sheet detailing the figures requested in Q1. This was obtained by looking at the method of call.
2) number of requests that were declined (no ambulance sent)
Please see the second tab on the attached sheet detailing the figures requested in Q2. This has been obtained by looking at the ‘No Ambulance Arrived on Scene. It is important to note that it is possible for an ambulance to be despatched and stood down before arriving on scene. There are many reasons for this happening, including the call being passed to another service/pathway or been treated as a hear-and-treat call.
3) number of requests where there was a delay of 1 hour or more.
Please see the third tab on the attached sheet detailing the information requested in Q3.
It is important to Note
These figures are inclusive of all call colour categories (Unscheduled Care Operational Statistics). The response times do not factor in possible upgrading or downgrading that may occur depending on the patient condition. For example, a call may start out as a yellow call, subsequently be upgraded to a purple call sometime later, but only the total time from the first call received has been used for this request. Where delays occur, clinical advisors maintain contact with the patient, checking their condition on an ongoing basis, and upgrading when appropriate.
Please see the attached sheet detailing the incidents where an emergency vehicle attended that has a response time of more than 60 minutes broken down into Health Board location and shown daily.
For the given data, you will see that some of the figures are shown as, five or less than five, please note that this figure has been suppressed because the statistical value is less than five. The Scottish Ambulance service has a duty, under the Data Protection Act to avoid directly or indirectly revealing any personal details. It is therefore widely understood that provision of statistics on small numbers, five or less are statistically suppressed upon
disclosure.- Response Documents
