High dependency
Linked to the additional skill base for all PTS staff, the management team has been working with emergency services colleagues, staff side representatives and crews to introduce a high dependency tier of resources now operational in some areas.
This new resource sits between PTS and emergency services to deliver care to low acuity 999 and GP urgent patients, and the more sick PTS patients.
Many PTS staff undertake GP Urgent calls, when a doctor or other health professional rings the ambulance service and asks for a patient to be in hospital within a specified time limit (typically one, two or three hours).
These calls were historically answered by frontline paramedic ambulances, but can be delayed because a 999 call must always take precedence. That is why the Trust has introduced vehicles to deal specifically with these Urgent, but not emergency, calls.
They are typically crewed by an emergency medical technician and an ambulance transport/care assistant, but with additional skills. This resource is a sort of hybrid between a frontline ambulance and a PTS vehicle used for routine journeys.
