THE Welsh Ambulance Service’s control rooms are among the best in the world, it’s been confirmed.
The Trust has been re-awarded Accredited Centre of Excellence status by the International Academy of Emergency Dispatch for the quality of service delivered in its Clinical Contact Centres.
More than half a million 999 calls are processed every year from its three emergency Clinical Contact Centres in Conwy, Carmarthenshire and Torfaen.
Director of Operations Lee Brooks 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.”
The Accredited Centre of Excellence accolade celebrates the control rooms who use the Medical Priority Dispatch System (MPDS) to process and prioritise 999 calls.
There are more than 3,000 emergency medical dispatch centres using MPDS 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 and expectations 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.”
