Government should assist ambulance crews over ‘worrying’ ready instances – Lib Dems
T
he Scottish Liberal Democrats have known as on the Scottish Government to supply extra assist to ambulance crews after revealing “extremely worrying” ready instances.
The occasion revealed statistics gained via freedom of data legal guidelines that confirmed 2,974 individuals waited greater than eight hours for an ambulance final yr.
The figures additionally confirmed that greater than 33,000 individuals waited for over two hours for an ambulance.
Calls are coded so as of precedence, with purple the best and pink the second most severe.
The longest waits for a purple or pink name had been 119 minutes and 685 minutes, respectively.
The longest anticipate any name was 1999 minutes (33 hours), though this was for a yellow-coded name, the second least severe.
Of these ready, greater than 20 callers coded purple and 558 red-coded callers needed to wait greater than an hour for an ambulance.
Alex Cole-Hamilton, well being spokesperson and chief of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, stated his occasion known as for an inquiry into “avoidable emergency care deaths but it was obstructed by nationalist MSPs who did not want to know”.
He added: “If you or a loved one find yourself in a moment of crisis, you want to know that someone at the other end of a phoneline will be able to help.
“For high risk callers to be waiting more than an hour for an ambulance to arrive on the scene is extremely worrying.
“The ambulance service has a phenomenally tough job. It is no surprise that they have been warning of pressure cooker conditions for years.”
He continued: “Rather than take for granted that ambulance staff will always be able to save the day, the SNP should recognise the pressures that the service is under and look again at what needs to be done to improve life for both patients and staff.”
A Scottish Government spokesperson stated: “We apologise to anyone who has had an unacceptable wait for an ambulance.
“We are committed to ensuring that there are no unnecessary delays in transferring patients to hospital and continue to work closely with health boards and the Scottish Ambulance Service to ensure that emergencies are urgently responded to.
“We continue to invest in supporting SAS staff and patients, including a record number of staff recruitment since 2020, with a further 307 to be recruited in 2023/24.”