Emergency ambulance calls and responses to red calls, October 2015 to June 2025

Standard shorthand is used in this table: [b] = break in time series.

Data values	Data description	Date	Local health board
27,483	Amber calls	June 2018	Wales
7,183	Amber calls	June 2018	Betsi Cadwaladr
1,140	Amber calls	June 2018	Powys
3,258	Amber calls	June 2018	Hywel Dda
4,727	Amber calls	June 2018	Aneurin Bevan
4,054	Amber calls	June 2018	Cardiff & Vale
4,590	Amber calls	June 2018	Abertawe Bro Morgannwg
2,531	Amber calls	June 2018	Cwm Taf
28,460	Amber calls	July 2018	Wales
7,568	Amber calls	July 2018	Betsi Cadwaladr
1,226	Amber calls	July 2018	Powys
3,460	Amber calls	July 2018	Hywel Dda
5,025	Amber calls	July 2018	Aneurin Bevan
4,017	Amber calls	July 2018	Cardiff & Vale
4,631	Amber calls	July 2018	Abertawe Bro Morgannwg
2,533	Amber calls	July 2018	Cwm Taf
27,248	Amber calls	August 2018	Wales
7,206	Amber calls	August 2018	Betsi Cadwaladr
1,146	Amber calls	August 2018	Powys
3,394	Amber calls	August 2018	Hywel Dda
4,747	Amber calls	August 2018	Aneurin Bevan
3,790	Amber calls	August 2018	Cardiff & Vale
4,509	Amber calls	August 2018	Abertawe Bro Morgannwg
2,456	Amber calls	August 2018	Cwm Taf
26,351	Amber calls	September 2018	Wales
7,015	Amber calls	September 2018	Betsi Cadwaladr
1,065	Amber calls	September 2018	Powys
3,110	Amber calls	September 2018	Hywel Dda
4,596	Amber calls	September 2018	Aneurin Bevan
3,684	Amber calls	September 2018	Cardiff & Vale
4,408	Amber calls	September 2018	Abertawe Bro Morgannwg
2,473	Amber calls	September 2018	Cwm Taf
26,937	Amber calls	October 2018	Wales
7,112	Amber calls	October 2018	Betsi Cadwaladr
1,166	Amber calls	October 2018	Powys
3,323	Amber calls	October 2018	Hywel Dda
4,656	Amber calls	October 2018	Aneurin Bevan
3,759	Amber calls	October 2018	Cardiff & Vale
4,455	Amber calls	October 2018	Abertawe Bro Morgannwg
2,466	Amber calls	October 2018	Cwm Taf
26,727	Amber calls	November 2018	Wales
6,575	Amber calls	November 2018	Betsi Cadwaladr
1,108	Amber calls	November 2018	Powys
3,208	Amber calls	November 2018	Hywel Dda
4,713	Amber calls	November 2018	Aneurin Bevan
4,009	Amber calls	November 2018	Cardiff & Vale
4,576	Amber calls	November 2018	Abertawe Bro Morgannwg
2,538	Amber calls	November 2018	Cwm Taf
28,484	Amber calls	December 2018	Wales
7,058	Amber calls	December 2018	Betsi Cadwaladr
1,245	Amber calls	December 2018	Powys
3,529	Amber calls	December 2018	Hywel Dda
5,001	Amber calls	December 2018	Aneurin Bevan
4,081	Amber calls	December 2018	Cardiff & Vale
4,901	Amber calls	December 2018	Abertawe Bro Morgannwg
2,669	Amber calls	December 2018	Cwm Taf
28,051	Amber calls	January 2019	Wales
7,245	Amber calls	January 2019	Betsi Cadwaladr
1,217	Amber calls	January 2019	Powys
3,399	Amber calls	January 2019	Hywel Dda
5,191	Amber calls	January 2019	Aneurin Bevan
3,822	Amber calls	January 2019	Cardiff & Vale
4,641	Amber calls	January 2019	Abertawe Bro Morgannwg
2,536	Amber calls	January 2019	Cwm Taf
25,008	Amber calls	February 2019	Wales
6,324	Amber calls	February 2019	Betsi Cadwaladr
1,070	Amber calls	February 2019	Powys
3,031	Amber calls	February 2019	Hywel Dda
4,389	Amber calls	February 2019	Aneurin Bevan
3,519	Amber calls	February 2019	Cardiff & Vale
4,198	Amber calls	February 2019	Abertawe Bro Morgannwg
2,477	Amber calls	February 2019	Cwm Taf
27,230	Amber calls	March 2019	Wales
6,832	Amber calls	March 2019	Betsi Cadwaladr
1,115	Amber calls	March 2019	Powys
3,473	Amber calls	March 2019	Hywel Dda
4,814	Amber calls	March 2019	Aneurin Bevan
3,862	Amber calls	March 2019	Cardiff & Vale
4,623	Amber calls	March 2019	Abertawe Bro Morgannwg
2,511	Amber calls	March 2019	Cwm Taf
27,956	Amber calls	April 2019	Wales
7,177	Amber calls	April 2019	Betsi Cadwaladr
1,164	Amber calls	April 2019	Powys
3,489	Amber calls	April 2019	Hywel Dda
4,905	Amber calls	April 2019	Aneurin Bevan
3,697	Amber calls	April 2019	Cardiff & Vale
4,068	Amber calls	April 2019	Cwm Taf Morgannwg
3,456	Amber calls	April 2019	Swansea Bay
27,684	Amber calls	May 2019	Wales
7,344	Amber calls	May 2019	Betsi Cadwaladr
1,168	Amber calls	May 2019	Powys
3,347	Amber calls	May 2019	Hywel Dda
4,952	Amber calls	May 2019	Aneurin Bevan
3,811	Amber calls	May 2019	Cardiff & Vale
3,732	Amber calls	May 2019	Cwm Taf Morgannwg
3,330	Amber calls	May 2019	Swansea Bay
26,765	Amber calls	June 2019	Wales
7,072	Amber calls	June 2019	Betsi Cadwaladr
1,200	Amber calls	June 2019	Powys
3,236	Amber calls	June 2019	Hywel Dda

Showing 4,001 to 4,100 of 5,616 rows

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Main information

• Most recent update: 26 September 2025
• Next update expected: This dataset is not expected to be updated, but is expected to be replaced in the future
• Designation: Accredited official statistics
• Data provider: Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust
• Data source: No specific source from data provider
• Time period covered: January 2015 to December 2025

Data notes

Overview

• Summary of dataset and variables:

  Since April 2014, Local Health Boards have been responsible for providing emergency ambulance services (999 calls) for their local residents; the Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust (WAST) is commissioned to deliver emergency ambulance services on their behalf.

  As announced in a statement by the Deputy Minister for Health, a new clinical response model was implemented in Wales from 1 October 2015.

  The new model has three new categories of calls – Red, Amber and Green: • Red - Immediately life-threatening (someone is in imminent danger of death, such as a cardiac arrest). There is a target for 65 per cent of these calls to have a response within 8 minutes. • Amber- Serious but not immediately life-threatening (patients who will often need treatment to be delivered on the scene, and may then need to be taken to hospital). There will be no time-based target for amber calls; instead a range of clinical outcome indicators will be introduced to measure the quality, safety and timeliness of care being delivered alongside patient experience information, which will be published every quarter. • Green - Non urgent (can often be managed by other health services) and clinical telephone assessment. There is no official time based target for these calls.

• Data collection or calculation:

  Monthly return from the Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust (WAST), at Local Health Board (LHB) level. Data is submitted on an EXCEL spreadsheet and transferred to an ACCESS database; validation checks including monthly trends are carried out and any queries are taken up with WAST.

• Statistical quality:

  Running calls (operational crews who arrive at the scene of an unrecorded incident without prior receipt of an emergency call) are counted as red calls, as are calls answered by either a Health Care Professional on Scene with a Defibrillator (MEDIC), or a Public Access Defibrillator (PAD).

  Health Care Professionals¹ (HCP) Urgent & Planned Calls are identified as green; where an HCP call poses an immediate threat to life, these calls will be prioritised according the final Medical Priority Dispatch System priority. ¹ Doctor, General Practitioner, Emergency Care Practitioner, Nurse, District Nurse, Midwife, Paramedic, Dentist, Approved Social Worker.

  As a result of these changes, nearly all of the data from the trial is not comparable to that for before October 2015. Some of the differences include: • Call categories A & C have been removed and replaced by colour coding. • Call handlers are allowed up to an additional two minutes to accurately identify both the severity and nature of a patient’s condition (for those calls that are not immediately life threatening), and the clinical resource they require before dispatching an ambulance. • A small proportion of calls that were classed as red 2 calls have been moved to the red category and a proportion of calls have been re-categorised from red 1. This means that comparisons cannot be made between performance against the old red1/2 categories and the current red category. • The changes will result in a reduction in the number of calls received with a time target. • An 8 minute response time target is only applied to red calls and therefore comparisons of the 8 minute target performance cannot be made for before and after 1 October 2015.

  The total number of calls received prior to 1 October 2015 can still be compared with total calls under the current model. This is done by adding in the GP urgent calls - which were classed as urgent not emergency - prior to December 2011.

  Therefore only overall call volumes can be compared over time, whilst all other measures during the trial period can only be compared within the trial model.

  CHANGES DURING THE TRIAL: From 11 November, calls which are originally coded as amber or green and during the initial call taking process the patient deteriorates, these are then re-coded through Professional Question & Answering or by the use of a manual dispatch code/override to red. For these calls, the clock start is re-registered as the time the call is re-coded to red.

  Calls which are originally coded as red and during the initial call taking process the patient’s condition improves these are then re-coded through Professional Question & Answering or by the use of a manual dispatch code/override to amber or green depending on condition. For these calls clock start is re-registered as the time the call is re-coded to amber or green.

  The overall impact of this meant that – from 11 to 30 November - an additional 37 calls arrived at the scene within the 8 minute target time, increasing the percentage arriving within the target time by 2.2 percentage points.

• Related reports:
  • NHS activity and performance summary (English)
  • NHS activity and performance summary quality report (English)
  • NHS activity and performance summary (Welsh)
  • NHS activity and performance summary quality report (Welsh)

Published by

• Organisation: Welsh Government
• Contact email: stats.healthinfo@gov.wales

Metadata

The metadata for this dataset is not included when you download the data. You can download this separately. This contains all the information from the 'About this dataset' tab.