Ambulance wait times for priority patients ‘up in 25 council areas since 2019’

Ambulance response times for patients considered the highest priority have worsened in almost every local authority in Scotland since 2019, figures show.

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Alex Cole-Hamilton branded the Scottish Government’s handling of the healthcare sector as “unforgivable”.

His comments came after statistics obtained by the party through freedom of information legislation showed that 25 of Scotland’s 32 local authorities experienced an increase in the average waiting time for “purple calls” – the most critical category.

The Scottish Ambulance Service defines purple incidents as the most “critically ill” patients, where a patient is identified as having a 10% or more chance of having cardiac arrest.

It operates on a colour-coded model which grades incidents green, yellow, amber, red or purple based on risk.

Included in the increases are some of Scotland’s largest cities and regions, including Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen and Fife.

The national average also increased from nine minutes and 30 seconds in 2019/20 to 10 minutes and three seconds in 2020/21 and to 10 minutes and 59 seconds in 2021/22.

The target response time for these calls is eight minutes, with this goal breached in 25 local authorities in 2021/22.

The Scottish Borders had the longest waiting time, with an average of 12 minutes and 46 seconds for patients graded purple.

Aberdeenshire, Shetland, the Western Isles and Angus all also averaged more than 12 minutes, the figures revealed.

Mr Cole-Hamilton said: “People in life-threatening situations need to know that someone will be there to help them when they need it.

“Tragically and despite the best efforts of hard-pressed paramedics, all across Scotland, that is simply not happening.

“It is unforgivable that the Scottish Government continues to roll out the tired excuse of Covid.

“Even the former chief executive of NHS Scotland Paul Gray has said that a pressure cooker crisis was coming regardless of the pandemic.

“Anyone can see that this is likely to be one of the hardest winters the NHS has ever faced. Staff are already overwhelmed and patients are already suffering.”

Mr Cole-Hamilton went on to accuse Health Secretary Humza Yousaf of ignoring the warnings of ambulance staff.

“The Scottish Government have continuously ignored the warnings of ambulance staff,” he said.

Mr Cole-Hamilton added: “The Health Secretary must fundamentally change his approach and get control of the crisis, otherwise he will need to go because patients and staff have been taken for granted for far too long.”

A Scottish Ambulance Service spokesperson said: “Our latest statistics show our median response time for our most serious calls across the country is currently seven minutes, 13 seconds and that 30-day survival rates for our most seriously ill patients are at their highest ever level.

“The response times quoted are averages and will include calls which have started as a lower call category, for example amber or yellow, and were then subsequently upgraded.

“We continually look for opportunities to improve our response times and we have recently recruited 540 extra frontline staff and are working closely with hospitals which experience delays in accepting ambulance patients.”