What is a non-emergency
Non-emergencies are usually a patient who has a pre-arranged visit to a medical facility for ongoing treatment, or transfer of a patient from one medical facility to another for specialist treatment.
Situations where a doctor may authorise routine ambulance transport are:
•If a patient requires stretcher transport
•if a patient requires active management or monitoring while in transit
•if a patient has a condition that would cause him or her to be gravely embarrassed or unacceptable to people on public transport.
When requesting an ambulance to a non-emergency, QAS requires 24 hours notice to allow us to schedule your booking. QAS Communications Staff will check that you have an authorised transport need. Please note that the QAS staff can decline to dispatch an ambulance if you do not have an authorisation certificate from a medical practitioner.
While QAS will make every attempt to meet times for pre-arranged visits, an emergency call will always take precedence over a non-emergency call.