All terms
Ambulance response categories
The NHS system that prioritises 999 calls by urgency, from Category 1 (life-threatening) to lower categories, to match response times to clinical need.
Knowing that a 999 call is triaged by severity helps you advise patients appropriately about when to call an ambulance versus other services.
More glossary terms
- ABCDE approachA systematic method for assessing and treating an acutely unwell patient — Airway, Breathing, Circulation, Disability, Exposure — dealing with each before moving on.
- AMPLE historyA focused emergency history — Allergies, Medications, Past history, Last meal, Events — taken quickly in acute situations.
- ARCPThe annual assessment that decides whether a doctor in training has met the competencies to progress to the next stage.
- AVPU scaleA rapid way to grade consciousness — Alert, responds to Voice, responds to Pain, Unresponsive — used in initial assessment.
Put it into practice
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