Chamber and committees

The Scottish Government regularly reviews performance data from the Scottish Ambulance Service which includes data on response times across the country.

This information is normally reviewed weekly, however, given the current pressures being experienced we are receiving twice daily sit reps from the Service on performance.

Like all areas of Scotland, and indeed throughout the UK, we are aware that some patients are experiencing delays in response times from the ambulance service. This is why we have already taken significant action both prior to and since the pandemic to input measures to ensure our Ambulance service has the full resources and range of support in place to deliver services.

We announced an additional package of support for the Service, backed by an additional £20 million of investment, which will help increase capacity and improve response times and staff wellbeing, including assistance from over 100 military personnel.

We have also previously taken action to help with the situation, including an additional investment of £20m as part of the £1bn NHS Recovery Plan. This investment comes from continued involvement with the SAS Demand and Capacity programme which this Government has been involved in since its inception in 2019. It will deliver almost 300 additional Ambulance Service staff by April 2022.

This breaks down as 69 staff in the North of Scotland, 139 in West of Scotland and 88 in the East of Scotland. The additional staff are a mixture of paramedics, newly qualified paramedics (NQPs) and technicians. Extra ambulances and vehicles will also be introduced over the coming months, including two in Edinburgh.