To
ensure that your patient gets the most appropriate care it is
important that the correct ambulance response is
requested.
Sometimes there can be some confusion between a GP’s definition
of urgent and emergency and ours.
In a few cases this has led to GPs requesting urgent ambulances
when emergency responses were required. In other cases, some GPs
have requested full blue-light emergency responses when in fact
urgent responses, between one to four hours, would have been
more appropriate.
As demand in London for ambulances is usually very high, we will
triage your request similarly to all 999 calls. Call triage is
a vital way of ensuring that those patients with the most
immediate need are dealt with first, regardless of who is
requesting the ambulance.
There are three types of ambulance response you can ask
for:
Emergency
An emergency is either:
- immediately life-threatening
- not immediately life-threatening
Who will be sent to treat your patient?
In life-threatening emergencies, people often
expect an ambulance with two people to arrive, but the
patient could also be treated by one of our single
responders who arrive by car, motorcycle or bicycle.
All of these vehicles carry the vital
life-saving equipment needed in an emergency. They can get through
traffic quicker and means we can get treatment to your patient more
quickly. If a single responder is sent, a traditional ambulance
response will follow to provide further support and transport for
the patient.
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Urgent
An urgent call by a GP is defined by the Department of
Health as not an emergency but as one where a time limit
is set, (one to four hours), and
therefore has a lower priority.
Who will be sent to treat your patient?
The majority of GP calls fall into the urgent
call category and the ambulance crew may be one of our
accident and emergency support (A&E Support) staff. They
help keep our paramedics and emergency medical technicians free to
attend the higher categorised emergency calls.
We aim to be with the patient within 15
minutes of the time specified by the GP. Similarly, if your
assessment requires an emergency response, make this clear to the
call operator.
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Non-urgent
These would involve routine bookings such as patients being
referred by a GP for outpatient appointments or investigations
(where there is more than four hours notice). Please see our
Patient Transport Service page to find
out about our routine journeys.
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