South Scotland MSP Brian Whittle has criticised the Scottish Government for an “abysmal” response to rising ambulance waiting times.
The MSP’s comments came after a Freedom of Information Request from the Scottish Conservative Party revealed the growing waiting times in NHS Ayrshire & Arran.
The figures revealed the waiting times for so-called “purple” incidents, which are patients categorised by the Scottish Ambulance Service as the most seriously ill. In Ayrshire & Arran, the longest wait for a purple incident since 2018 was 1 hour 19 minutes in April this year.
Brian says the figures are further proof that the SNP are failing to deal with the overwhelming pressure on ambulance staff across Scotland and urged the Scottish Government to act. As ambulance staff prepare to go on strike, the Scottish Conservative MSP believes that staff in the NHS have lost faith in the First Minister and the Scottish Government’s ability to deal with the crisis facing the NHS.
Brian Whittle MSP said:
“These figures are just the latest evidence of the SNP’s abysmal response to the challenges facing our health service. The idea that someone considered to be most critically in need of help should be waiting over an hour for an ambulance is deeply worrying.
In situations where every second can count for a patient’s survival, these long waiting times are putting lives at greater risk.
Even before the pandemic, these waiting times were too high, and the situation has only worsened as we’ve emerged from it. Time after time, the SNP have told us that they were the guardians of the NHS, that they had the plan to deliver a better future, but you only have to look at our health service today to know that isn’t true.
The First Minister and Health Secretary must take responsibility, accept their failures and act to turn things around in the NHS.”
