New emergency call screening system to be adopted by ambulances

As reported by the BBC, patients under category two afflictions will be redirected to other channels instead of waiting for ambulances

Ambulance crews will now screen emergency calls through a new system.

Patients not designated to be in life threatening conditions will be redirected to receive calls from healthcare professionals.

The pilot project in London and the West Midlands amounted to approximately 50% of callbacks being redirected to GPs or pharmacies instead of waiting for an ambulance.

“What it does is provide more individualised care for a patient but also allows us to free up the resource for our most vulnerable patients, patients who will have had strokes and heart attacks,” says professor Julian Redhead of NHS England.

The new system is expected to be implemented fully within the coming weeks under close monitoring.