Priority 1 casualty

Priority 1 casualty

A term defined in the context of a major incident (“disaster”) in the UK, for a person who requires immediate resuscitation and stabilisation, and must be put in critical care and/or taken to theatre immediately. The number of P1 casualties accepted at any one time is governed by the resuscitation facilities available: the ITU/ICU consultant, with the medical co-ordinator, will declare additional capacity to Ambulance Liaison as patients are stabilised and moved from the P1 area. The average hospital in the UK can accept no more than 3 P1 patients at a time.

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