The appalling AMPDS system used to "triage" calls (or - more correctly mis-triage) needs a severe shake up. As everyone who has been trained on it knows, it was invented is the US solely as a way to stop ambulance services getteing sued by patients or their families. It has little or no medical value - especially in the way in which leading questions are asked, which only serve to over-categorize minor illnesses or injuries. A possible neck of femur/hip fracture is a Green call, because it's not "considered" life-threatening. However, if "Doris" has been on the floor for more than six hours the injury is - stupidly - considered an "old" injury, in the same way a cut which stopped bleeding hours ago is an old injury. It takes no notice of pain, possible confusion, hypothermia, lying in a pool of urine - all for over six hours. What is even more bloody galling (and I'm betting TR will bear me out), poor old Doris will apologise for "bothering" us.