Peter Coates

“Category 1 is an immediate response to a life-threatening condition. It should only be used for a patient who requires resuscitation or emergency intervention from the ambulance service, for example, a patient who is in cardiac or respiratory arrest. Mortality rates are high where a difference of one minute in response time is likely to affect outcome and there is evidence to support the fastest response. The national standard is for 90% of Category 1 patients to have received a response within 15 minutes; and for the overall average response time to be within 7 minutes.”