The announcement that Wales will scrap the eight minute target for ambulances and focus on outcomes has been applauded by UNISON, one of the UK's largest trade unions, with 1.3 million members.
The Welsh Ambulance Service will pilot a new clinical response model for 12 months from October 1 2015.
The announcement was branded “exactly what emergency medical staff have been waiting many years for” by UNISON.
The announcement that Wales will scrap the eight minute target for ambulances and focus on outcomes has been applauded by UNISON, one of the UK's largest trade unions, with 1.3 million members.
The Welsh Ambulance Service will pilot a new clinical response model for 12 months from October 1 2015.
The announcement was branded “exactly what emergency medical staff have been waiting many years for” by UNISON.
Their statement in response to the government’s announcement read: “[Since 1974] clinical knowledge and understanding of life-threatening diseases and injuries has been completely revolutionised and therefore we need an intelligent and evidenced way of measuring the service.”
The aim is to end the current practice of sending multiple ambulances to a 999 call just to chase the eight-minute target, the government said in a statement.
People with an immediate life-threatening condition – such as a cardiac arrest – will continue to receive an immediate ambulance response, however all other patients will receive a “bespoke clinical response, which is based on their health needs,” the statement read.
