IAC (028) 35 11 33 33 Emergency (028) 35 11 35 00 Accident & Emergency Emergency Priority Rules IAC (028) 35 11 33 33 Emergency (028) 35 11 35 00 Accident & Emergency Emergency Priority Rules In Emergency Care, priority is not based on “first come, first served” but on the severity of the condition. Ambulance Hotline (028) 35 11 35 00 Cardiac Hotline (028) 38 73 10 00 Stroke Unit (028) 38 73 10 00 Pregnancy Emergencies (028) 35 11 34 50 FV Hospital’s Emergency Heart Care Process ATS 1 Max Wait Time: Immediate Immediately life-threatening Conditions that are threats to life for imminent risk of deterioration and require immediate aggressive intervention. ATS 2 Max Wait Time: < 10 min ATS 2 – Imminently life-threatening, important time-critical treatment The patient’s condition is serious enough or deteriorating so rapidly that there is the potential of threat to life, or organ system failure, if not treated within 10 minutes of arrival. ATS 3 Max Wait Time: < 30 min ATS 3 – Potentially life-threatening, situational urgency The patient’s condition may progress to life or limb threatening, or may lead to significant morbidity, if assessment and treatment are not commenced within 30 minutes of arrival. ATS 4 Max Wait Time: < 45 min ATS 4 – Potentially serious The patient’s condition may deteriorate, or adverse outcome may result, if assessment and treatment is not commenced within 1 hour of arrival in ED. Symptoms moderate or prolonged. ATS 5 Max Wait Time: < 60 min Less urgent The patient’s condition is chronic or minor enough that symptoms or clinical outcome will not be significantly affected if assessment and treatment are delayed up to 2 hours from arrival. We use the Australasian Triage Scale (ATS) to determine treatment priority for patients. Experienced triage nurses assess each patient’s condition and assign the appropriate urgency level. Patients with life-threatening conditions are always given the highest priority and are treated first by our medical team.
