Welsh Ambulance Service’s control rooms recognised as among the best in the world

The Welsh Ambulance Service have been re-awarded Accredited Centre of Excellence status for the quality of service delivered in its Clinical Contact Centres.

The accolade, awarded by the International Academy of Emergency Dispatch, celebrates control rooms which use the Medical Priority Dispatch System to process and prioritise 999 calls.

More than half a million 999 calls are processed every year from the service’s three emergency Clinical Contact Centres in Conwy, Carmarthenshire and Torfaen.

Lee Brooks, Director of Operations, said: “Our Clinical Contact Centre colleagues are the beating heart of our emergency ambulance service and we’re thrilled that they’ve been recognised for their commitment to excellence.

“Every day these colleagues save lives through the advice that they give to callers and their attention to detail in getting help to patients when they need it.

“Their calm and compassionate handling of calls enables them to give instruction before an ambulance arrives.

“This is a fantastic recognition of the high quality of our 999 call taking teams within the Welsh Ambulance Service.”

There are more than 3,000 emergency medical dispatch centres using the Medical Priority Dispatch System worldwide, managing around 65 million incidents per year.

Only 250 have achieved accreditation as a Centre of Excellence, and only eight countries in the world – including Wales – have been completely accredited.

Organisations must meet a rigorous set of criteria to gain accreditation, after which they are recognised as one of the most elite agencies in the world.

Lee added: “Centre of Excellence accreditation is the highest honour that our centres can receive and signals to the public and our people our commitment to excellent care and service.

“Everybody in our Clinical Contact Centres should be very proud of this achievement.”