Better services: Deputy Secretary for Security Carol Yuen (right) explains details of the proposed medical priority dispatch system.

The Security Bureau is seeking public views on the proposed medical priority dispatch system which categorises and prioritises the response to emergency ambulance calls in accordance with the degree of urgency.

According to the consultation document, emergency ambulance calls will be categorised into three categories - "response 1" calls for critical or life-threatening cases, "response 2" calls for serious but non-life-threatening cases, and "response 3" calls for non-acute cases.

Response time target

Speaking at a press conference this morning, Deputy Secretary for Security Carol Yuen said a different response time target will be adopted for each category.

The response time target of "response 1" calls will be reduced to nine minutes while the response time target of "response 2" calls will be maintained at 12. The proposed response target time for "response 3" calls is 20 minutes.

Under the proposed system, a set of structured questions will be asked to solicit the essential information from the caller. The questioning protocol can readily identify a potentially life-threatening situation.

The most obvious and critical cases can be identified as early as the third question and an ambulance will be dispatched immediately.

Suspicious cases

In the event that the caller is not able to give clear or specific responses to the protocol questions, the operators will will choose to err on the safe side and classify an uncertain call as a "response 1" call and send an ambulance to the scene as soon as possible.

The bureau also proposed maintaining the current pledge of achieving the response time target in 92.5% of the cases for all the calls. 

The bureau will carefully consider all comments and views received before finalising its proposal. Subject to the public's support for its broad principles and the dispatch framework, it proposes to introduce a priority dispatch system no later than 2012.