Ambulance triage is a ‘game-changer’ – paramedic

We often look to EMS systems ‘across the pond’ for innovations. This one seems to make a lot of sense!
 
We just need an economic model that supports NOT sending an ambulance on every 911 call.
 
Side Bar: Imagine deploying 400 ambulances to cover 4,000 DAILY responses… 

Ambulance triage is a ‘game-changer’ – paramedic
Kate Baldock, BBC Shropshire
September 1, 2025

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cn02j3gxzdgo

“Our peak across the West Midlands area every day is 400 ambulances, the demand will always be high.”

Jamie Breen, a West Midlands Ambulance Service (WMAS) paramedic who has been in the role for six years, has told how the introduction of a Clinical Validation Team (CVT) in 2021 has been a “game-changer for the service”.

The team calls patients back and where possible speaks to them to determine next steps, which could be advice, referral to a GP, pharmacist, hospital or urgent care team, or sending an ambulance.

Mr. Breen was giving BBC Shropshire an inside view of the pressures, challenges and highlights faced by ambulance crews.

He explained how the CVT worked to “see if they can triage them over the phone, so they don’t have to resource it with an ambulance”.

“Patients are getting the right care -and they’re getting referred on to specialist services such as specific wards, their GP or district nurses or things like rapid response,” he said.

Rob Till, head of integrated urgent care services at WMAS, said the triage service meant life-threatening cases were prioritised and responded to as quickly as possible.”

“At the same time, patients whose conditions are less urgent are safely referred to alternative services better suited to their needs,” he said.

WMAS receives about 4,000 emergency 999 calls a day and serves a population of about six million people.

The ambulance trust said it clinically triaged 723 patients each day through the CVT last month.
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From the CVT Website:
“Not all calls require an ambulance; some 999 calls can be dealt with by our Clinical Validation Team (CVT) in our Emergency Operations Centre, who can discuss the patient’s condition further.

CVT is a team of paramedics and nurses specially trained to help patients who have called 999 needing medical help.

Around a quarter of all 999 calls we receive go to CVT.

Out of those, 60% of patients do not require an ambulance.

Instead CVT is able to find alternative care pathways, ensuring patients are given the right help, at the right time and in the right place.”