The Strikes (Minimum Service Levels: NHS Ambulance Services and the NHS Patient Transport Service) Regulations 2023

Minimum level of service: HCP responses: England

5.—(1) The level of service for the purpose of enabling work notices under section 234C of the 1992 Act to be given in relation to strikes as respects the NHS (England) ambulance services which are HCP responses, is as follows.

(2) On each day of the strike—

(a) HCP response requests are answered and triaged as they would be if the strike were not taking place on that day;

(b) an HCP response is organised and provided for each of those requests which is triaged as, or escalated after initial triage to, being—

(i) a request about a patient with a life-threatening condition or illness, or

(ii) a request about a patient for whom there is no reasonable clinical alternative to an HCP response,

as it would be if the strike were not taking place on that day.

(3) In this regulation—

“HCP response request” means a request for an HCP response made by or on behalf of a relevant HCP in exercise of their functions as such;

“HCP response” means either or both of the following services—

(a)

clinical assistance with a patient in a community setting;

(b)

transportation of a patient from a community setting to a healthcare facility;

“relevant HCP” means a person who is a healthcare professional for the purposes of the National Framework for Healthcare Professional Ambulance Responses (version 2, 22 March 2021)(1) (see Part 1 (introduction) of the Framework).

(1)

The Framework has the publications approval reference C1172 and is published by the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives and NHS England and NHS Improvement. Copies of the document are available online at the following address: https://www.england.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/07/C1172-aace-national-framework-for-hcp-ambulance-responses.pdf, and hard copies may be obtained by writing to NHS England at Quarry House, Quarry Hill, Leeds LS2 7UE.