Thousands of ambulances in two-hour wait to drop patients at A&E, Labour warns
More than 2,700 ambulances waited almost two hours to drop off their patients at accident and emergency departments last month due to increased pressures, figures show.
Statistics received following a freedom of information request to the Scottish Ambulance Service revealed 2,731 ambulances were delayed by at least one hour and 50 minutes in October.
At Glasgow’s Queen Elizabeth University Hospital, the turnaround time for ambulances in October was more than three hours – with 69 waiting three hours and 40 minutes in the week beginning October 10.
Highlighting the figures during First Minister’s Questions on Thursday, Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar warned Nicola Sturgeon that “lives will be lost” if the situation does not improve.
“But this Government are still in denial.
“We have growing queues at A&Es for treatment, ambulances off the road for hours trying to drop off patients, and people waiting in pain for help to come.
“All of this is before we have even reached the worst of winter. Lives will be lost as a result.
“The Health Secretary now says it’s going to take another five years to fix the problem – a problem that has been 15 years in the making.
“After 15 years of SNP Government, patients shouldn’t have to wait a minute longer.”
Ambulance staff are among the NHS workers who are threatening strike action over a pay dispute.
Scottish Ambulance Service workers who are members of the GMB union and in the Greater Glasgow and Clyde health board area voted overwhelmingly for industrial action earlier this week.
Physiotherapists and midwifery staff have also backed a walkout over pay.
Meanwhile, waits at emergency departments in Scotland have reached record highs, with 69% of patients waiting at least four hours to be admitted, transferred or discharged in September.
He said: “Waiting time at the Queen Elizabeth and elsewhere are not a post-pandemic issue, we have been raising this for as long as I’ve been in the service.
“But sadly, the times are getting longer, patients are getting sicker, and it’s happening in all seasons now – not only the winter months.”
Ms Sturgeon said she always listens to concerns from staff in the health sector, but stressed additional funding is needed from Westminster to tackle the crisis.
She said: “We take these responsibilities extremely seriously every single day – every minute of every single day.
“But the fact of the matter is, the pressures on our NHS are not divorced from the wider budgetary issues.”
She said the Welsh Labour Government has also expressed concern that the country’s NHS will be “hell on earth” without additional funding from Westminster.
Ms Sturgeon added: “How come it is the case that Labour in Wales can recognise that reality, but Labour in Scotland is so clearly filled to defending the Tories they are blind to that reality?
“We will do everything we can in terms of the management of our NHS, but the fact of the matter is we do need more funding for our NHS and that can only come from decisions that are taken at Westminster.”