999

Operating 24 hours a day, 365 days a year our call takers we take 679,000 calls each year for over 450,000 incidents in our three Clinical Contact Centres in Wales.

When to call 999

Do not hesitate to call 999 in the case of serious or life-threatening emergency, such as chest pain, shortness of breath, unconsciousness or serious bleeding.

However, there are a number of other options for less seriously ill or injured people, including:

• Visiting your local pharmacy
• Visiting the NHS 111 Wales website or ringing 111
• Visiting your local GP

You will not be seen any sooner at hospital if you arrive by ambulance, unless your condition is life‑threatening. Calling 999 for a problem that is not a genuine emergency can delay our crews from reaching someone who is in a life‑threatening situation.

Please think carefully before you dial 999 - you can help save lives. If you need to go to hospital and can travel safely by car, public transport or taxi, please do so.

Dial 999 immediately for serious emergencies such as:

• Chest pain
• Difficulty in breathing
• Loss of consciousness
• Severe loss of blood
• Choking
• Fitting/convulsions
• Severe allergic reactions

What happens when you call 999?

When you call 999 a telephone operator will ask you which emergency service you need. In a medical emergency you should ask for an ambulance, and you will be put through to one of our 999 call handlers, where the calls are processed via the computerised Medical Priority Dispatch System (MPDS).

You will need to tell us what is wrong and what has happened, the address where help is needed, including the postal area if you know it, and the phone number you are calling from.

Once this information is given, trained call-handlers will ask a series of scripted MPDS questions, to which the answers indicate the patient’s clinical condition:

• the patient's age, sex and medical history
• whether the patient is breathing, conscious, bleeding seriously or has had persistent chest pain
• the type of injury and how it happened

Asking these questions will not delay help being arranged but it enables the response co-ordinators to offer advice if needed and ensure the most appropriate assistance is provided.

The combination of MPDS code and call priority helps us to identify the most appropriate response to meet the needs of our patients. This maybe an emergency ambulance, an advanced paramedic practitioner or it might be a clinician who calls you back to ask you further questions.