A proposed three-tier system for grading the urgency of ambulance calls may be implemented in 2013 and the Fire Services Department will submit a proposal to the Legislative Council for funding in two months.
Gregory Lo Chun-hung, the director of fire services, yesterday said the medical priority dispatch system had won wide support during a public consultation last year and the department would submit the implementation proposal to the Legislative Council in two months.
'The grading system is widely adapted in the United States, Britain and Australia, with almost 3,000 emergency call centres using it,' Lo said at a year-end briefing.
The department will ensure there is adequate public education and a trial run before the full implementation of the new system, he said.
Emergency calls will be categorised as 1, for critical or life-threatening cases; 2, for serious but non-life threatening cases; and 3, for non-acute cases. The proposed respective target response times are nine, 12, and 20 minutes.
Ambulance operators will ask clear, structured questions such as whether the patient is conscious and breathing, Lo said, and patients will be categorised under different response tiers according to these 'yes' or 'no' questions by computer.