Every time we receive a 999 call, our staff
record the relevant details and use information about the
nature of the patient’s illness or injury to ensure they are sent
the right medical help.
Our call-handlers—known as emergency medical
dispatchers—use sophisticated software to put the call into a
particular category, based on its urgency.
Up until April 2011, we prioritised calls into
three categories. This had been either Category A (immediately
life-threatening), Category B (serious but not immediately
life-threatening) or Category C (not serious or
life-threatening).
From 19 April 2011, and following the
removal
of the Category B target, calls are now going to be
handled as either Category A or Category C.
Find about more about our
national targets.