Two-hour waiting times for an ambulance will become the new ‘normal’ in Ayrshire if action isn’t taken to address the crisis, warns an MSP.
A freedom of information request from the Scottish Conservatives shows that ambulance waiting times in NHS Ayrshire & Arran have skyrocketed – with more than 3,000 patients waiting longer than two hours for attention.
Now South Scotland Tory MSP Sharon Dowey said she’s “greatly concerned” over the figures.
The statistics revealed that in 2021/22, a total of 3,372 people from the health board's area waited longer than two hours for an ambulance to arrive.
This is a huge increase on the 165 people who waited the same length of time in 2018/19.
In August last year, Ayrshire live told how an elderly woman was left lying on a busy town centre street for more than four hours while she waited for an ambulance.
And in December, we revealed how a group of good Samaritans were left 'disgusted' when they were told by an ambulance operator they would not come to the aid of an injured 62-year-old woman – despite three separate pleas for help.
Now Ms Dowey is calling on health secretary Humza Yousaf MSP to urgently turn things around in Scotland’s ambulance service.
She said: “The SNP are making new records every day. First it was record high A&E waiting times, then we noticed record high cancelled operations and now we’re seeing record high ambulance waiting times.
“Humza Yousaf needs to look back at his first year in the post and consider whether he’s up to the task. After presiding over such lengthy waiting times in our health service without making any improvements, the SNP are putting patient’s lives at risk.
“Imagine phoning an ambulance in a state of distress, where every minute feels like an hour. Under the SNP, this feeling has become a reality as Ayrshire residents wait hours on an ambulance to arrive.
“It’s called an emergency for a reason, and yet the SNP are happy to let patients wait for hours on an ambulance. Even if a patient manages to make it to A&E without an ambulance, they’ll still find themselves waiting hours to be seen.”
She added: “Humza Yousaf needs to ramp up recruitment in our NHS to help deal with the demand. Otherwise, a two-hour wait will become the normal, and our current NHS workers will continue to be put under far too much pressure.”
A Scottish Government spokesperson said patient safety remained their “number one priority.”
The spokesperson continued: “The pandemic has been the biggest challenge the NHS has faced in its 73-year existence.
“These figures demonstrate that while there are approximately the same number of incidents being responded to in 2021/22 compared to 2018/19, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of the most serious incidents.
“Our increased investment has seen record recruitment of 540 additional ambulance staff in 2021/22 with further recruitment of 574 staff planned for this year, ensuring the service is working as efficiently as possible.”
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