Emergency medical services in the United Kingdom

Common card · No. 483768

Emergency medical services in the United Kingdom provide emergency care to people with acute illness or injury and are predominantly provided free at the point of use by the four National Health Services (NHS) of England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Emergency care including ambulance and emergency department treatment is free to everyone including overseas visitors but ongoing care including admission to hospital as an inpatient is chargeable unless meeting criteria for NHS care free at the point of delivery. The NHS commissions most emergency medical services through the 14 NHS organisations with ambulance responsibility across the UK (11 in England, one each in the other three countries). As with other emergency services, the public normally access emergency medical services through one of the valid emergency telephone numbers (either 999 or 112). In addition to ambulance services provided by NHS organisations, there are also some private and volunteer emergency medical services...

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