What is the Emergency Medical Service (EMS)?
The Emergency Medical Service deals with emergency and urgent cases as well as the more complex non-emergency admissions, discharges and transfers from hospital.
Emergency Ambulance crews are highly trained in all aspects of pre-hospital emergency care, and usually consist of an Ambulance Technician and a Paramedic. Emergency ambulances are equipped with a wide range of emergency care equipment, and are designed to provide a mobile clinical base to enable crews to treat and stabilise patients before transporting them to hospital.
How do I request an emergency ambulance?
In a medical emergency, for example - unconsciousness, difficulty in breathing, a suspected heart attack, heavy blood loss, serious injury, severe burns – call 999 for an emergency ambulance.
SignVideo is a service that enables deaf (and hearing) British Sign Language (BSL) users to communicate with hearing people via an online BSL interpreter. SignVideo can be accessed using a computer or via the SignVideo app on your smartphone or tablet.
Once you have contacted the SignVideo service, the interpreter will contact us by telephone and relay your conversation with a member of our team, e.g. a Nurse Advisor or a Health Information Adviser, depending on what the problem is. You will be asked a series of questions to assess your needs and will be provided with the healthcare advice or information you need, or directed to the local service that can help you best. The SignVideo service is available 7 days a week, between 8.00am and midnight.
For more information and guidance on how to download the service onto your computer, tablet or smartphone, visit SignVideo.
If you are deaf or hard of hearing and don’t use BSL you can still contact 111 via Relay UK. Relay UK brings relay services for deaf, hard-of-hearing, and speech-impaired people right up to date with the latest app technology. You don't need any special kit – just download the app from the App Store or Google Play onto your smartphone, tablet, or computer. For more information visit the Relay UK website - .
Relay UK relays conversations between people using a smart phone app (or textphone) and people who use voicephones. When you use Relay UK to call NHS 111 Wales, a Relay UK assistant will speak your words to an NHS 111 Wales call handler and then convert their spoken words into text for you. If you use speech, the call handler can listen to what you have said, then reply. The Relay UK assistant will then convert what the call handler has said into text.
To access the service dial 18001 111 from your textphone or using the Relay UK app.
What categories of emergency response are there?
When you call 999, a call taker will ask for the address of the emergency, whether the patient is breathing, and what has happened. This information is entered into our computerised priority dispatch system so that help can start to be arranged.
There are four response categories: Purple Arrest, Red Emergency, Amber and Green.
Patients in the Purple Arrest category (those in cardiac and respiratory arrest) or Red Emergency category (those at high risk or cardiac and respiratory arrest), will be sent an ambulance as quickly as possible.
For calls where there doesn’t appear to be an immediate threat to life, a Clinical Navigator (Paramedic or Nurse) will review your call to ensure you receive the most appropriate care. If you do need an immediate response, we will upgrade the call and send help immediately.
If you don't need help immediately, your call will be passed to a Paramedic or Nurse for a more comprehensive assessment, to ensure you get the right care for your needs. This might still mean sending an ambulance, especially for serious conditions like a suspected stroke, or it could be a response from an Advanced Paramedic, a volunteer Community Welfare Responder, a GP appointment, self-care advice, or something else.
What should I do if I take regular medication and am taken to hospital?
It is important that if you are on regular medication and an ambulance has to take you to hospital that your medication is taken with you. The Green Bag and Message in a Bottle campaigns are two good examples of ways you can either store your medication in case of an emergency or provide information to our staff about where to find your medication. Click on the links below to find out more about these:
What is the Non Emergency Patient Transport Service (NEPTS)?
A vital part what we do involves transporting people to and from their medical appointments at clinics, hospitals and day centres. The Non-Emergency Patient Transport Service makes around 700,000 patient journeys every year for patients across Wales.
Our highly trained crews use a modern fleet of vehicles and work alongside the hospitals to ensure that we get you to your appointment as comfortably as possible.
The range of vehicles we have means that we can convey a wide-range of patients including those who need stretchers, patients who use wheel-chairs and patients who have a limited mobility. A large number of the journeys for patients who are able to travel by car are made by our dedicated team of volunteer car drivers.
Accessing Transport
In order to make a booking for transport, please contact us by telephone on 0300 123 2303, Monday to Friday 8.00am – 6.00pm.
When you contact us for transport you will be asked a series of questions that will determine whether you are eligible for transport. Eligibility is based upon medical criteria, which has been agreed nationally by Welsh Government, if you qualify for Non-Emergency Patient Transport, staff at our contact centres will arrange the transport for you. If you are not eligible for transport, you will be offered alternative contact numbers for organisations that may be able to assist you.
What is the First Responder Scheme?
When a patient faces a serious emergency, every second counts for them and a simple helping hand from a Community First Responder can make a vital difference to their lives.
First Responders in Wales are volunteers who donate their spare time to attend appropriate 999 calls and provide first hand emergency care to people in their own community.
When a 999 call is made, First Responders are alerted by WAST‘s three control centres and are sent to certain types of calls the same time as an ambulance so they can provide essential care until the vehicle reaches the scene.
The volunteers are trained by the Welsh Ambulance Service to administer basic first aid skills, oxygen therapy, cardiopulmonary resuscitation and the use of a defibrillator.
More information on the First Responder Scheme is available on the Welsh Ambulance Service website.
What do I do if it's not an emergency?
When medical advice or treatment is needed, but it’s not a life threatening emergency, there are a number of options which you can consider:
How do I provide feedback?
If you have an experience or feedback about using any service provided by the Welsh Ambulance Service that you want to share with us, you can contact the Trust’s Patient Experience & Community Involvement Team by emailing peci.team@wales.nhs.uk or call 01792 311773.
If you want to raise a concern (make a complaint) you can contact the Trust’s Putting Things Right Team by emailing Amb_PuttingThingsRight@wales.nhs.uk or phone 0300 321 321 1. For more information visit the Putting Things Right section of our website.