November 27, 2025 - 281 views
Changes to the way 999 emergency calls are managed by the Welsh Ambulance Service will take effect from next Tuesday.
New response categories like "orange now", "yellow soon", and "green planned" will prioritize urgent conditions like strokes and heart attacks.
The goal is to improve patient outcomes with tailored responses and enhanced clinical triage. The changes aim to reduce unnecessary hospital admissions and provide more timely and effective care.
From Tuesday 2nd December, when someone calls 999 in an emergency there will be five new ambulance response categories:
Purple arrest – for people experiencing a cardiac or respiratory arrest who need an ambulance immediately.
Red emergency – for people at high risk of a cardiac or respiratory arrest, for example, someone who is choking, who needs help immediately.
Orange now – for serious conditions, which need face-to-face clinical assessment, tests and transfer to hospital or specialist care – for example, someone with symptoms suggestive of a stroke or heart attack.
Yellow soon – for people who need to be assessed first, either over the phone or face-to-face, before a clinician determines the most appropriate next steps for their care; for example, a person with abdominal pain, or non-serious injury; people could stay at home following treatment, or the ambulance service might arrange transport to a clinic or hospital, depending on the most appropriate course of action for their needs.
Green planned – for less urgent calls, such as someone with a mild infection; people could be treated safely at home with the right care from local services.
The new model will categorise emergency calls by need, not only ambulance response time, aiming to improve people’s outcomes and experiences.
People will be assessed using enhanced clinical triage to better identify their clinical needs and people who need a faster response and transport to the right healthcare facility will be prioritised.
They will be matched to the most appropriate resource, whether that’s an emergency ambulance, an advanced paramedic practitioner or alternatives, such as planned patient transport or self-care.
The changes are designed to safely reduce unnecessary hospital admissions and support care closer to home where that is clinically safe.
Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care, Jeremy Miles said: "This new ambulance response model is about making sure everyone gets the right care for their complaint or condition.
"By improving clinical decision-making and introducing new response categories, we will deliver better outcomes and experiences for people across Wales.
"The new approach will be evaluated to ensure it is delivering the improvements in patient care which we expect.
"We are seeing positive outcomes from the changes introduced in July and we want to see this system save more lives and provide better experiences for people across Wales."
Executive Director of Paramedicine at the Welsh Ambulance Service, Andy Swinburn, said: "Calls to the Welsh Ambulance Service have traditionally been categorised as red, amber or green, but it’s become apparent these categories have broadened over time, leading to an inefficient use of ambulance resources.
"The current amber category in particular – which represents around 70% of total demand – doesn’t allow for a more targeted response to serious conditions like a stroke or a fractured hip, which means that some patients wait far longer than any of us would like.
"The nature of how people 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 people who can be cared for closer to home get that opportunity."
