Further to the answer to question S1W-29008 by Malcolm Chisholm on 19 September 2002, what factors determine whether the rapid/cardiac resp…

The Scottish Ambulance Service will deploy whichever resource is nearest to the patient suffering from chest pains, whether that is the cardiac response unit (CRU) or one of the accident and emergency ambulances with the thrombolytic capability. Where the CRU is deployed, a back-up accident and emergency ambulance will also attend, to transport the patient to hospital once the CRU has assessed the patient's condition and administered any appropriate treatment.The CRU is not a 24-hour resource, and is only operational during peak times which have been identified through the analysis of relevant clinical data. If the service receives a call about a patient with chest pains when the CRU is not in operation
- or when it is attending to another patient
- one of the accident and emergency ambulances with the thrombolytic capability will be deployed. Over the period covered in question S1W-29008 (1 June 2002 to 31 August 2002), of the 76 patients attended to by the CRU, 11 received clot-busting drugs. Of the 47 attended to by an accident and emergency ambulance, two received clot-busting drugs. All 123 patients were admitted to hospital in compliance with ambulance service policy to transport to hospital all patients suffering from chest pains.