Health in Grampian: Critically ill north east patient waited nearly two hours for ambulance
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A critically ill patient in the north east was forced to wait almost two hours for an ambulance last year.
This information was revealed by the Scottish Ambulance Service in reply to a freedom of information request.
The Conservative party asked about waiting times for "purple incidents" which involve the most seriously ill patients
In the NHS Grampian region, which covers Aberdeenshire, Aberdeen and Moray, the longest wait since 2018 was recorded as 114 minutes.
Ambulance staff are due to work to rule from tomorrow in their fight for better pay.
Alexander Burnett is blaming Humza Yousaf, the Scottish Government's health minister for the long waits.
The conservative MSP for Aberdeenshire West said: "These ambulance waiting times are staggering and hugely concerning.
"Purple incidents are defined by the ambulance service as the most critical incidents, so a swift response time is absolutely vital for patients’ chances of survival."
The longest wait involving a purple incident within the Grampian region so far this year has been 51 minutes in May.
The 114-minute wait came in February 2021.
In December 2019 and May 2018 it was 47 and 40 minutes respectively.
Mr Burnett said: "The fact that patients are having to wait for so long in NHS Grampian is putting lives on the line and is a damning indictment of the SNP’s mismanagement of the health service.
"The figures show the pressures on our ambulance staff have not been confined to the pandemic period, so the SNP Government cannot hide behind Covid as an excuse.
"The reality is that they have failed to give overwhelmed ambulance crews in the north-east the resources they have required year after year."
