5 days ago
Welsh Ambulance Service introduces changes to how it responds to strokes
The Welsh Government has announced changes to how the Welsh Ambulance Service responds to 999 calls.
A new "orange" category has been introduced in an attempt to improve care and response times for patients with strokes and other serious conditions.
Currently, people suffering a stroke or STEMI - a type of heart attack - are grouped with many other cases in the broad "amber" category, which represents 70% of all 999 calls to the ambulance service.
Under the new orange category, people would undergo "rapid clinical screening" by nurses and paramedics in call centres to help identify the patients requiring the most time sensitive care.
The change follows an announcement on July 1, which created new categories for cardiac and respiratory arrest and life-threatening emergencies.
Announcing the changes, Health Secretary Jeremy Miles said they would "help ensure that people experiencing a stroke receive the rapid, tailored response they need to survive, recover and thrive following a stroke."
The new categories, which replace the current amber category, are scheduled to be implemented before winter this year as part of a new emergency ambulance performance framework, according to the Welsh Government.
The changes replace the current categories with:
'Orange: time sensitive' - for conditions needing a fast response and care from ambulance clinicians before transport to hospital for specialist care, such as a stroke.
'Yellow: assess and respond' - for conditions which require further clinical assessment to determine the best pathway of care, such as a person suffering from abdominal pain who may be suitable to stay at home or may need further investigations.
'Green: planned response' - for conditions such as a blocked catheter which may require community care or planned transport to urgent care services.
As well as a change to the categorisation of 999 calls, a pre-hospital Video Triage approach is being piloted at five Welsh stroke services with support of the ambulance service.
This sees real time communication between pre-hospital clinicians, such as ambulance clinicians, and hospital stroke specialists, to improve the assessment and diagnosis of stroke.
The Welsh Government says early findings show it supports clinical decision making and improves pre-arrival information for hospital teams, speeding up access to life saving and life changing treatments.
Health Secretary Jeremy Miles said: "For people in stroke, every minute counts if lives are to be saved and disability reduced or prevented - with each minute that passes, around two million brain cells are lost.
'That's why we're introducing a new orange category into the system which will help our ambulance service identify time sensitive complaints such as stroke quickly and get patients the right specialist treatment faster.
"This will help ensure that people experiencing a stroke receive the rapid, tailored response they need to survive, recover and thrive following a stroke."
Andy Swinburn, Executive Director of Paramedicine at the Welsh Ambulance Service, said they welcome the changes.
'The nature of how patients present to 999 has changed and it's important to reflect this in the way we respond, first and foremost to increase ambulance availability for those who truly need it but also to ensure that patients who can be cared for closer to home get that opportunity.
'This latest change, which builds upon those already introduced for the most life-threatening calls, is another step towards creating the framework to do this.'
