Clinical Support Desk is 10: The remote clinicians celebrating a decade of helping patients

25.04.2025

A WELSH Ambulance Service team of remote clinicians is celebrating a decade of helping 999 callers get the most appropriate help.

Paramedics, nurses and mental health clinicians make up the Trust’s Clinical Support Desk, the pan-Wales team who consult and assess patients over the phone and by video to get patients the right help for their needs, often without the need for an ambulance to be sent.

The team is safely reducing unnecessary hospital attendances, in turn easing pressure on emergency departments and freeing up ambulance crews to respond to more urgent calls.

More than four and a half million 999 calls have been made to the Welsh Ambulance Service since the desk’s inception in 2015.

Of those, the desk has been involved with almost 13,000 (38%) incidents per month and has successfully organised more appropriate care for approximately 20% (just under 4,000) patients, rather than sending them an ambulance to take them to an emergency department.

Debbie Lewis, a Nurse and Duty Operations Manager based in Swansea, said: “On the Clinical Support Desk, we take all kinds of calls, and while we consider alternative pathways, our main focus will always be on patient safety.

“We have a great team with really good and varied experience which is really important when you are trying to establish the best way forward for a patient.

“It’s all about teamwork and we are always happy to offer our advice and share our opinions depending on the type of call and the symptoms the patient is presenting with.

“I’ve been on the Clinical Support Desk for six years and I can see the difference the team is making as not everyone who calls 999 actually needs an ambulance or needs to be taken to hospital.

“Sometimes, the best thing for the patient would be to remain in the community and get a GP referral or assessment from a specialist mental health team.”

Matthew Phillips, a Senior Mental Health Practitioner based in Llangunnor, said: “On a typical shift, I will triage a range of mental health-related calls and wherever possible, signpost those patients to the most appropriate agencies.

“The majority of our calls are from people experiencing a mental health crisis and it can be difficult to ascertain what is happening and what has brought them to the point where they are calling the service and asking for help.

“It’s about trying to put all of the pieces together and deciding the best way forward with the patient to ensure they get the right care or advice, from the right service, at the right time.”

Lee Brooks, the Trust’s Executive Director of Operations, said: “At a time of unprecedented demand on the urgent and emergency care system, we need to think differently about the way we deliver ambulance services.

“Remote clinicians are just one way we’re working hard to deliver the right care or advice, in the right place, every time, and as close to home as possible, and I’d like to extend an enormous thank you to all those colleagues who have supported us on this journey so far.”

Pete Brown, Assistant Director of Operations for Integrated Care, added: “The Clinical Support Desk has come a long way in 10 years, and this is only really the beginning.

“My clinical colleagues on the Clinical Support Desk do an incredible job caring for patients across Wales, often in challenging circumstances.

“There are exciting plans afoot as we enter the next decade, and we look forward to working with commissioners, Welsh Government and partners to develop those ideas and bring them to life.”