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You spoke earlier about the difference between patients being categorised highly and their being upgraded. The concern is that someone might have waited so long that their condition has deteriorated, thus requiring the upgrade. Do you recognise that, even though someone might have waited in the yellow category, once they have become red category, it is then a red category waiting time, so it is not a separate thing?

Finally, when you do your exit interviews, especially for advanced paramedics who are leaving the service, what reasons do people give for leaving the service?

Absolutely. If you have that—

Is that tied into NHS 24 or is it separate?

Absolutely. You gave a very full answer to Sue Webber. In the past 12 months, what has been the attrition rate of your advanced paramedics?

I have been contacted by paramedics about all the things that you are doing. One paramedic said to me that she suffered from numerous traumatic situations and from post-traumatic stress disorder. She wanted to go into the triaging area because she simply wanted to be away from the front-line environment, but she was forced to quit because she was told that she had to go to the front line and had to be in ambulances. I have also been contacted by advanced paramedics who have said that they absolutely do not like the fact that they only triage and they are not getting out. What would you say to those paramedics?

Thank you.

Absolutely—there are different options.

An issue that I have as a GP is around the fair reflection that I provide when I ask for an ambulance. I might feel that a patient can manage a four-hour ambulance wait, but I—and a lot of us—invariably consider that that means an eight-hour ambulance wait, so I might upgrade it to two hours or one hour. If I do not, the patient will not get in. How can you reassure healthcare professionals who call you to say, “We need an ambulance for this patient, and this is the realistic timescale” that you can meet the timescale that they—the GP or other healthcare professional—have given you?

So, the figure is roughly that.

If some paramedics enjoy the triaging and some paramedics do not enjoy it, surely it would make sense to allow them to do the bits that they really enjoy.