AMBULANCE VICTORIA 2010-2011 ANNUAL REPORT

Definitions
Incident:
Emergency:
Dispatch Codes:
An event to which one or more ambulances are dispatched.
An incident to which one or more ambulances are dispatched in response to a ‘000’ call
from a member of the public, or a medical request for transport requiring an emergency
ambulance (due to patient acuity or transport timeframe).
Code 1 incidents are time critical (proceed with lights and sirens);
Code 2 incidents are acute, but not time critical (without warning devices);
Code 3 incidents are not urgent.
Non-Emergency:
Compensable:
Community Service
Obligation:
Retrieval:
Request for patient transport where patient has been medically assessed and the
transport is medically authorised; covered by the NEPT regulations and usually
pre-booked.
Not funded by DHS - patient or third party (e.g. hospital, DVA, WC, TAC, MSS) responsible
for fee.
Funded by DH - Pensioner or Health Care Card Holder exempt from fee.
A retrieval is a coordinated inter-hospital transfer of a patient, who has a critical care or
time critical healthcare need, which is unable to be met at the original health service.
Retrieval services are provided by specialised clinical crews with advanced training in
transport, retrieval and critical care medicine, operating within a structured system
which ensures governance & standards.
Cases handled by Adult Retrieval Victoria include the provision of adult Critical Care and
Major Trauma advice, coordination of Critical Care bed access and retrieval of Critical
Care patients state-wide.
Referral Service:
The Referral Service provides additional triaging of lower priority calls to 000 by a health
professional; suitable calls are referred to other service providers as an alternative to an
emergency ambulance dispatch. Referral options include locum general practitioners,
nursing service, hospital response teams and non-emergency ambulance transport.
2010 - 2011 Annual Report AMBULANCE VICTORIA 31